The Princess and Her Knight
by Rocket Ice
Summary: At Saint Mary's school, the school for the world's top females, a contest is brewing. A contest to become the top student. Alice Kirkland is determined to win, but with that person as her partner, does she really have a shot? -Highschool AU; Genderswap-
1. A Competion for Ladies

**Author's Notes:**

Hey there! Thanks for stopping by! Before we begin this story, here are some things you may want to know!

_Names In This Section:_

**England-** Alice Kirkland **America-** Amelia Jones

**France-** Francine Bonnefoy **Romano- **Lovina Vargas

**N. Italy-** Feliciana Vargas **Spain-** Antonia Carriendo

**Prussia-** Maria Beilschmidt **Japan-** Honda Kiku

**Poland-** Felicyta Łukasiewicz **Ancient Rome-** Alessandra Roma

**Germania-** Gertrud Pytheas **China-** Wang Yao

**Taiwan-** Sun Mei **Liechtenstein-** Lili Zwingli

**Austria-** Rosa Edelstein **Belgium-** Clara Dupont

**New Zealand-** Helen Kirkland **Cameroon-** Sierra Ahidjo

**Monaco-** Grace Blum **Norway- **Margaret Ericson

_Pairings: _US/UK is obviously the main one. Other will be Switzerland/Liechtenstein, Netherlands/Belgium/Prussia, Australia/New Zealand, Hong Kong/Taiwan, France/Seychelles, Denmark/Norway, Spain/Romano, Russia/China, Lithuania/Poland, Germany/Italy, Austria/Hungary, and probably a bunch more mentioned. It is an all-character story. Also, the pairing assignments don't necessarily mean that that Princess will end up with that particular Knight (though it is common).

Okay, so everyone in the story is in the age range of 15-18 years old, besides the middle school students and the teachers. It is a Gakuen AU, but not Gakuen Hetalia, though every character will be at least talked about once, hopefully. And, while it is Nyotalia, it is that the males became female, and only halfway, making all parties female. The setting just seemed like a good one for an all girls' school. Also, the reason for Saint Mary's have a school on each hemisphere is to explain why there are only three students from the Americas in the school, and so I would not have to use Original Characters to make the Princess Selections balanced.

By the way football is soccer, for all you Americans out there. And, later on, the Asian names are first name first, surname after. However, in the list above, they're the opposite. It's because above is how they're commonly referred to, but below, it's how Alice would think. (Though she won't think incredibly British, as I'm an American myself.)

Lastly, America's not actually in the first chapter, which is mainly an introduction to the school. That's why I posted 2 along with 1.

**Disclaimer: **I am not the genius that Hidekazu Himaruya is. I am simply a fan, expressing my love for APH. That is all. :D

* * *

**The Princess and Her Knight**

_Chapter 1: A Compeition for Ladies... and Francine_

Situated almost exactly in the dead center of the landmass of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania, exists a school. The school's name is "Saint Mary's International". The name doesn't elude much to it, but it's one of the world's most prestigious schools, and certainly near the top for all girls' international boarding school. The school was created many years in the past to hone and sharpen the brightest and most talented young women in the entire east hemisphere. School life there was not cheap, due to exquisite private dorm rooms, fantastic food, the world's most respected programs, and, of course, the constant transportation to and from the school to the students' home countries. However, if you made it through Saint Mary's, you were almost guaranteed success throughout your life. Therefore, obviously, schoolwork for the students at St. Mary's was to be taken completely seriously and above all else.

At least, this was the opinion of Alice Kirkland, a British student in Saint Mary's writing program. Currently, however, it appeared as though her schoolmates didn't share the same feelings. Alice had been in the library preparing for an exam the next week (she felt you could never study too much) on a late Thursday afternoon in the hours after the school had cleared out. Everyday after school (and most weekends), Alice had the same schedule. First, the twin-tailed blonde helped out as many teachers as possible with cleaning up their rooms, and the like. Then, she traveled over to the library, which, usually by that point in the day, would be almost totally empty. Alice then tackled all of her homework assignments that were given out that day in class. (Yes, this _did _include all projects.) Once the English girl finished all those, she studied as hard and long as possible. The librarian of the school had long given up trying to convince Alice to head back to the dorms and prepare for dinner, and instead handed Alice the key every afternoon at 4:30 p.m. The time that Alice was _so rudely_ interrupted from her studying had been at 6:30 p.m.

It had happened when Alice's _least_ favorite group in the entire school burst into the library, and, immediantly began causing their usual peace-shattering ruckus of noise. The three girls that Alice was so irritated by were: Maria Beilschmidt, a self-called "Prussian" student with long white hair in and red eyes in the football program; Antonia Carriendo, a Spanish football player with long brown hair and green eyes; and last, and certainly least (in Alice's opinion), was blonde-haired, blue-eyed cooking student, Francine Bonnefoy.

Alice dove behind the desk she was currently sitting, begging for the three to not notice her. Whenever _they_ were around, something horrible _always_ happened to Alice, especially due to Francine. The writing student certainly did not want to be found. However, she decided to listen to their conversation, to see if they were plotting for Alice's demise or anything of the sort.

It was a little mumbled at first, but then Alice would make out Maria saying, "…can't believe that something so fuckin' awesome wouldn't include _me._ Seriously, Francine, what the _hell_ was your grandmother thinking?"

Alice heard Francine sigh, and answer. "You are saying it as though it is my fault, _mon amour_. I did not choose the contestants for the competition. Also, as I have explained, neither you nor Antonia is a student on the Arts Side."

Alice silently gasped. A competition? How come these three idiots had heard of it before she had? Alice thirsted to win _all_ competitions in her high school years possible, and this one sounded more important, and even _life changing_. After all, it was being organized by Saint Mary's leading lady, Headmistress Roma (who also served as a grandmother to Francine and a pair of Italian twins in the school). Realizing that the three were speaking once more, Alice shut out her thoughts, and concentrated again on what they were saying.

"Ah, here it is," Francine commentated, flipping open a book. Alice was in put into a second's shock, as she sounded much, _much_ closer than before. However, Alice sighed with relief (albeit, silently) once she realized that instead of being right beside her hiding space, they were instead near the books on the history of the school itself and the surrounding area, which were closer to her than the three had been previously.

Francine continued with, "I see. So the winners in the past have _all_ been in the singing and acting programs. _That is_ why Grandmother decided on not including them." A sound was made as if the blonde cook slid the book back onto the shelf.

"I still don't get why _awesome_ people in the _awesome_ sports program, such as the _awesome_ me, can't be included," Maria angrily grumbled.

"B-But we could be their partners, right?" Antonia said hopefully. "Buyooh~ I want to be Lovi's partner!" Her faced flushed red with excitement.

"I don't want to be someone's fuckin' _partner_," Maria stressed. "Though, obviously, all the contestants are gonna want to pick the awesome me." Alice guessed (correctly) that the albino girl was sticking her nose high in the air at this point.

Francine sighed and said, "_Oui, oui_, Maria. But, let's go back to the dorms now." The French girl giggled with a sense of evil and explained, "I saw some very cute girls from the middle school section who I would _love_ to acquaint myself with."

Maria and Antonia sighed knowingly in unison, and began to follow Francine out the library, leaving Alice all alone once more, just like she wanted to happen. Alice's wheels began turning quickly, as she pondered what in the world the three could have been talking about. It had sounded as though it would be _amazing_ to be apart of. However, there were many things that concerned Alice about it. Why did it sound as though only Art students were allowed to enter the contest? It could have something to do with a competition with the sister city in the Americas, as Saint Mary's Art program was much more popular than the one there, but it didn't seem to be that sort of thing. Also, if it did include solely the students of the school, why had Alice not caught wind of it earlier? It could have been that Headmistress Roma had accidentally leaked the details to Francine, as the French girl _was_ her granddaughter. But, even though Francine wasn't a genius (and Alice would be the first one to tell you that), if the cooking student was supposed to start collecting buzz for a relatively far-off event, the contest would had been around school faster than the track program. (Francine's gossiping skills were second _only_ to one of the Polish girls, Felicyta.) Thus, Alice concluded that all would be revealed soon, and she would be that much closer to her ultimate goal.

Glancing at the clock above her head, Alice realized she was already fifteen minutes late for dinner. Gathering her things quickly, she dashed out the door, and ran.

However, the one thing she didn't realize what just how soon all would actually come to light.

* * *

It was the next morning at Saint Mary's, a gorgeous Friday day, and Alice was walking to the largest of the school's three auditoriums, in a slow, calm pace, silent as she should be, as opposed to the large group of girls surrounding her, who seemed to have no end to their giggling and running.

Alice sighed, and contemplated the upcoming assembly. The teachers had announced at the beginning of the day, without any premise, as usually was given about it, something that was most odd indeed. Going over the events of the day before, she could only hope it had something to do with the mysterious competition the three idiots had been speaking of.

And, indeed, as she filled into the auditorium, it appeared as it may have been. The entire school was there, including all of the students from every section and year of schooling. All of the teachers and faculty were sitting on the stage, also, even including the Vice-Headmistress, and the Headmistress herself, who appeared to be the first speaker. '_That's interesting…'_ Alice noted to herself, as the Headmistress rarely ever appeared in front of the students at these sorts of things at all. She was a tall, strong-looking woman, with curly red-brown hair, and a single odd curl on the back of her head. She usually started more fights than stopped them, but was a great leader nonetheless. However, usually, the responsibility for this sort of event fell on the shoulders of Vice-Headmistress Pytheas, a cold, eternally glaring woman with long golden hair and a single braid.

The English student hurried for a seat in the second row, a place that was surely to be seen by all those important, so she would be that more ahead in the contest already. It was a most necessary action, at least, by Alice's standards. Luckily, the seat avoided having to sit by anyone that would bother Alice at all. She had gotten a seat beside no one on the end of the row (though she wasn't able to figure out whom that Cuban student could possibly be mumbling to).

It took a few minutes for the teachers to calm down the persistently noisy girls in the auditorium, but once there was silence (as much silence as a room filled with young people can be), Headmistress Roma began her speech.

"Students of Saint Mary's…" the older woman began. "I have some great news! Something amazing (created by myself, of course) is coming to our school this year! What could this be, as you may be mumbling to yourselves? Why…" the Headmistress paused for dramatic effect. "A contest to become Saint Mary's Princess for the current generation!" Her voice boomed, loudly and with enthusiasm. However, this was nothing compared to the noise that followed the announcement. Unashamed conversations exploded from every student in the school simultaneously, or so it appeared. It took the staff another fifteen minutes to quiet down the girls again.

"Now, as you may have asked one another, what is the Princess Competition, anyways?" Headmistress Roma continued, not appearing as she had been winded by the excessive noise at all. "Well, many years ago, when the school was still young and fresh…" The Headmistress trailed off at that point, reminiscing about her old days. When it appeared as though she wouldn't snap out of it, Vice-Headmistress Pytheas not so discreetly stuck her leg out, and kicked her boss on the side of her shin. The Headmistress snapped out of it with a rather loud, "Ah!" and _finally_ seemed ready to continue. (Alice wasn't able to deal with time-wasting very well.)

"A-Anyways, as I was saying," she said, regaining her posture. "In the earlier days of this school, for a few years, there was a problem. It seemed as if weren't able to please our student body with the selection for the Student President. When the teachers made a staff-wide selection, the girls cried out with protests for student selection. However, when voting was instated, the losers of the race always complained that the girls would always vote based on whom it was that they all knew the best, which made it a competition of popularity, not necessarily based on competence.

"Well, us teachers didn't know how to please the students. It seemed as if they were just being rebellious. But then, alas, I had an epiphany! We would create a system in which none of the girls would be able to argue with. First, the teachers would select fifteen standout girls, from different areas of the arts. Then, there would be a timeframe of several months in which the candidates would be given numerous tasks to complete to show their skills and qualifications to the students, showing the truly good for the job, against the not so much."

Headmistress Roma looked up at all the girls from her script, and explained, "Us teachers are ready with our contestants! How about you girls?" The applause that followed this questioned was thunderous, even _deafening_. The Headmistress smiled her widest in response. "Great!"

She then let the girls quiet down, and continued. "Here are your fifteen candidates!" More applause followed this, and excited whispered conversations broke like hives across the large room. "If I call your name and art program, girls, please come up to the stage as soon as possible."

While she paused once more to let the staff attempt to silence the excited students once more, the wheels in the Alice's head were spinning faster than they possibly had ever been. The prestige and honor that would come from this would be great. It would give her a ladder, no a _trampoline_ to her future ambitions. It sounded almost too great to be true.

Then, Alice remembered she wasn't necessarily a candidate, and the air deflated out of her like a balloon. '_No!_" she told herself in frustration, shaking her head. '_You're going to be chosen, Alice! You've been helping teachers and making top grades since your arrival upon school grounds! There's no way they wouldn't pick you._' She sighed. '_Right?_'

"Here we go!" Headmistress Roma started once again, grabbing a sheet that held the future of fifteen lucky students on it.

"The first candidate for Princess is…" Here came another pause for dramatic effect. "Francine Bonnefoy of the cooking program!"

Alice inwardly groaned as more applause followed this. Though the blonde girl hated to admit this, Francine was, for some reason beyond Alice's comprehension, popular, especially with the younger girls. (She was such a perverted frog, after all.) If it had been the original set up, the French student would have probably won over Alice.

As the noise eventually died down, Headmistress Roma announced, "The next candidate for Princess is Feliciana Vargas, of the drawing department!"

Feliciana Vargas was one of the two Italian Vargas twins in the school. Feliciana had dark red-brown hair that she tied in a ponytail a curl similar to her grandmother's, but in the front of her face to the right. She was school-known for her eternal love of pasta and hate of working hard, especially in the minimal physical classes the art students had to take. However, she was still a very optimistic and happy girl that most students liked.

Alice was then hit with realization. _'Wait, if both Feliciana and the frog are candidates, then the next candidate must certainly be…'_

"Lovina Vargas of the sculpture department, you're up next!" the Headmistress announced, the choice completely in line with Alice's thoughts. _'Of course the Headmistress would choose her three granddaughters to be the first three participants in the competition,'_ Alice thought dryly. However, she wasn't particularly angry with the Headmistress choosing her third granddaughter, Lovina. Lovina, while having talent in the sculpture department, was lazy and moody, and her sister outshone her. Lovina was also grumpy and hard to get along with, so she was not the beacon of positive energy her sister was, and was school-known for being even angrier about the whole ordeal, as _she_ not Feliciana was the older sister. However, it wasn't that she was ugly; her shoulder-length dark red curly hair and headband suited her eternal glare well, though it did put on an air of her being stuck up. Therefore, she wouldn't be that much of a competitor to Alice.

The Headmistress then continued. "The next candidate for the Princess Selections is Margaret Ericson, of the guitar department!"

Alice thought this as an odd choice. Margaret was a Norwegian student, who usually kept to herself, and if spoke, it was mainly directed to her circle of five (particularly to assault a Danish girl). She had light blonde hair that reached halfway down her back that was styled with a navy blue sailor-type hat, a relatively floating curl, and two pins that made an 'X" on the side of Margaret's head. Her eyes were dark purple-blue, and always set in a sort of angry daze. However, as Alice didn't know the girl too well, she supposed she received high marks or the like.

After Margaret had lazily climbed the stairs, the Headmistress called out to the crowd once more. "Next up is Felicyta Łukasiewicz, of the fashion department!"

A very large, "Ohmygawd, like, totally?" was heard throughout the auditorium, even over the large buzz that was still occurring, and Alice knew _exactly_ whom the Headmistress was speaking of. Felicyta was, to say the least, a stereotypical blonde (particularly if you watched American movies, not that Alice did or anything). She constantly spoke in Valley Girl talk, and was always excited and trying to make people over. She looked the part too, with her short, blonde hair and forest green eyes. Her permanent facial expression was a smirk. (The girl constantly exhausted her poor Lithuanian friend.) However, the one thing that differentiated Felicyta from the other stereotypical blondes was that she had a tendency to be oddly _shy_ around people from the outside of those she was close to. Alice supposed that this pick had more to do with pure talent than grades, as Felicyta did not let the fashion department down, _ever_. The blonde was always setting trends.

The next few candidates seemed to tick by quickly for Alice, as none of them were the key name she was listening for- her own. The Headmistress called out Kiku Honda, the Japanese girl in the drawing program; Clara Dupont, the Belgian cooking student; Helen Kirkland, the film-making student from New Zealand; Mei Sun, a painter from Taiwan; Yao Wang, a Chinese photographer; a small violinist from Liechtenstein named Lili Zwingli; a Cameroonian flute player named Sierra Ahidjo; an Austrian pianist named Rosa Edelstein; and finally, rounding them off at fourteen, a girl from Monaco named Grace Blum who played the cello.

Alice was practically sweating buckets at this point. They were at the final spot left for possible competitors for the Princess title, and they had not released her name yet. There was only one shot left. All of her fate lay on this one name.

"And finally," the Headmistress began, finally silencing the entire auditorium, "I will announce the fifteenth, and _final_ name for the Princess competition." In a miraculous moment, the crowd that had been so rowdy before remained quiet and still, anxious and worried.

"The final student of Saint Mary's in the Princess competition is…" the Headmistress paused for dramatic effect. "The writing department's Alice Kirkland!"

The outside world seemed to completely fade away, as Alice took in the news. 'Yes, yes!' she exclaimed to herself, standing up and taking her obviously _rightful_ spot on the stage. The twin-tailed girl smirked on the inside, feeling pleased with herself for once. She listened for her own cheers, and while some did applaud for her candidacy, it seemed as if most were simply resentful about not being chosen themselves.

'_Brilliant_', Alice thought to herself sarcastically. '_I'll be the one they all remember as the one who took their spots._'

However, her thoughts were shattered when Headmistress Roma began to speak again. "Everyone calm down," she spoke, and silence once again appeared; the previous speakers beginning for some appointment to be a mistake and for themselves to be put in instead. Unfortunately, the announcement wasn't about that at all.

"As you all have heard," she started, gesturing to the expanse of the room, "the current candidates are all art students. The sport girls may be confused about this, and wondering how they are gonna participate." A general census of nods and grunts spread out across the auditorium. "Well, here's what you can do!" She gestured back at the fifteen candidates on the stage. "Apply for Knighthood!" A sound of surprise rang out. "See these fifteen girls? Because they're in the arts, they're more like princesses, the official royals of this kingdom. However, the sports teams are the strongholds, the Knights. So, we decided that when every candidate was selected, she would have to find a partner from the sports section, whom would become sort-of her right hand man. The way to do this is that the Princess candidate herself will choose. You may apply starting right after this meeting." She paused for a breath. "That is all. Good day!"

Noise exploded from all corners. The sports students were talking most animatedly about whom they were going to apply to, and how _amazing_ it would be to be chosen. However, Alice was mainly stuck in her thoughts, only half-listening as Vice-Headmistress Pytheas explained everything else.

'_A partner?'_ Alice thought worriedly, staring at her lap. _'Who in the world is that going to be?'_

_

* * *

_

Okay, okay, so America wasn't actually in the section. So sue me. (Please don't though. I'm broke.) She'll definitely be in the next one, though! This section was just getting way too long. After the next one, which will still be from Alice's perspective, it may switch between the different competitors, just to get to know them better. I know for almost certain Kiku is getting one.

Thanks for reading, and if you have any questions, or want to say anything at all (I mean _at all_) please leave a comment!

Natsumi;}}


	2. A New Hope?

**Author's Notes:**

Thanks for continuing to the second chapter! Same rating, and whatnot as the first. :D

_Names in this Section:_

**England- **Alice Kirkland **America- **Amelia Jones

**France- **Francine Bonnefoy **Prussia- **Maria Beilschmidt

**Liechtenstein- **Lili Zwingli **Switzerland-** Vanessa Zwingli

**N. Italy- **Feliciana Vargas **Germany- **Louise Beilschmidt

**Austria- **Rosa Edelstein **Hungary- **Elizaveta Hédeváry

**Hong Kong- **Wang Fang **Taiwan- **Sun Mei

**Seychelles- **Michelle Morphey **Denmark-** Maren Køhler

* * *

**The Princess and Her Knight**

_Chapter 2: A New... Hope?_

Alice Kirkland, for all of her life that she could remember, had not liked her older sisters. They had constantly oppressed and outright _harassed_ the British girl. However, just being related to them was bad enough. For some reason, they all obtained genes that made them become geniuses and excel in life. The Kirkland parents were incredibly pleased. That was, until Alice was born about a decade after the youngest one.

Throughout the entirety of her school career, Alice was _constantly_ being compared to them, and always seemed to come up short. Alice's first instinct was to rebel, which summed up her middle school life. First, she had cut her hair short and messy, taken up the electric guitar, and proceeded to wear mainly black. The looks on her parents' faces were priceless. Unfortunately, however, this did not dissuade them from treating Alice differently. So, Alice did the one thing she could think of. She moved to America for half a year.

It had been a totally out-of-body experience for Alice. The culture was just so… _odd_. It was as if they were trying to take proper British life and go 360 degrees the opposite direction/ The family she had stayed with was even odder. (Then again, she had found the listing for an exchange student online, so what do you expect?) However, this trip abruptly came to an end after a certain life-changing incident (which Alice tended to not want to dwell on too often), she gruntingly came back to Great Britain, grew her hair out, and began wearing light blue again.

Around this time, which was near the end of her ninth grade year, Alice really got into her one outlet for her troubles- writing. She then won some awards, and suddenly found herself accepted to the world's most prestigious school- Saint Mary's. Her parents looked pleased for once when she had told them the news. So, Alice set her mind straight then- she would do _whatever_ it took to become the top student of the school, and finally please them.

* * *

It was due to the events in her past that Alice knew she absolutely _had_ to become the school's Princess. She was feeling oddly confident about something for once. The other competitors weren't _too_ much of a threat (except for a small number of them), and Alice really was talented. Thus, she was going to win.

However, there was one small problem. Alice had _no_ idea whom her partner was going to be.

Sure, she had received a few applicants from some sports girls, but they weren't anyone Alice knew, or wanted to trust with the most important task. From the applications, it even seemed as though the students had simply been applying to be involved with the competition, not as if they actually cared for Alice or anything. The finding of a partner was the first task, to an extent. Without finding a partner within the time limit, the candidate would be thrown out of the competition.

The situation would have probably been all right if the other competitors had been having trouble too. However, to Alice's dismay, this seemed to not be the case at all. Francine had announced her partner _the very next school day_. She had picked Maria, probably due to Maria's endless whining/claims of awesomeness. Seriously, though? That wine bitch had gotten a partner before Alice?

That wasn't even the worst of it, though. That Tuesday, two more candidates had announced partners- Lili Zwingli would be with her adopted older sister, Vanessa Zwingli of the biathlon program (obviously), and Feliciana Vargas would be working with her German friend from the rugby program, Louise Beilschmidt (also known as Maria's younger sister).

It was the Wednesday after the contest had been announced, and one more contestant had announced their partner on the morning announcements- Rosa Edelstein would be working with her Hungarian friend, Elizaveta Hédeváry, of the fencing program. No doubt at least one more would be announced in the afternoon.

Alice felt exasperated, and wondered instead of trying to study all the time, if she should have been more social. She didn't have many close people to choose from, and they were all either competitors themselves, or simply in the art program. There was one person she could ask, she supposed, but… No, there was definitely no way.

The blonde Brit sighed and walked over to her school mailbox during the lunch break, wondering if there was to be another application. She supposed she would have to go with one of the girls after all. Alice had to stay in the competition above everything else.

However, the letter in her hand seemed to tell her differently. It was a new application! Alice nearly cried out with relief. Maybe now she could find a proper ally.

These sentiments were shattered when she opened the letter, and saw the name of the applicant. No, that person couldn't, _wouldn't_…

There were other people Alice was able to ask. She would _have_ to.

Unfortunately, it seemed as if the first person she decided to ask was a definite rejection. Alice had turned to Fang Wang, a Chinese girl in the cricket program. The Brit knew Fang in that they were distant cousins. One of Alice's third aunts, or the like, had married Fang's father, a prominent businessman from Hong Kong. For the majority of Fang's life, she had lived in England, in a house not too far from Alice's own, as so she had spent much of her younger time with Alice and her family, often amusing (and scaring) Alice with her intricate knowledge of fireworks. However, for reasons unbeknownst to Alice, Fang had randomly decided to move to Hong Kong on her own in the summer after sixth grade. They had first kept in contact often, but, especially after Alice's rebellion, their relationship had dwindled to much less than it had been previously.

Alice, at first, had been relatively happy to see Fang hadn't changed much at all. Yes, obviously, she was taller, and her dark brown hair had grown out past the girl's shoulders, kept in a messy low ponytail. However, her personality had relatively remained the same, with that same still and quiet, yet gentle demeanor she had always had.

So, it had come as a shock for Fang to almost immediantly turn down the answer, to say the least.

"W-W-W-Why?" Alice had stuttered. "I go to all the trouble to ask you, and yet you turn me down? Why?"

Fang blinked, and said, "…I'm working with someone else."

"Eh?" Alice asked, her eyes widening. "Who is it?"

"Anyways," Fang started, changing the subject. "Why don't you just ask A-?"

"Don't say that name!" Alice interjected. Her face heated up to a fine deep red just thinking of what could possibly happen. "Fine, if you're not working with me, I'll just go!" She stubbornly stomped off out of the room and down the hallway. Fang sighed, expecting that kind of reaction.

* * *

Several excruciating hours later, Alice determined her situation was hopeless. The Brit had asked almost everyone she knew, from her family's friend Michelle Morphey; to the Danish she used to be close to, Maren Køhler. It seemed as if Alice had no options left. She was so stressed out that she barely heard the afternoon announcements in her last block, Pre-Calculus. The blonde only heard the announcing of yet another pair in the competition- Mei Sun, the Taiwanese girl in the painting program was to be working with Fang Wang.

'_Fang's such a git,_' Alice thought solemnly. '_Not working for me just because of that Mei Sun girl. A total git…_'

The bell then dinged, singling the end of the school day. Alice sighed, and rose from her seat, far too tired to even consider going to the library that afternoon. However, she walked so slowly, the school emptied around her anyways. Alice let out a sigh once more, and decided she was just going to have to get one of the giggling girls to do it. With a little more determination than before, Alice walked faster. Alice was so caught up in her scheming that she almost didn't hear it.

"Alice."

It was a voice all too familiar to Alice's ears. Beautiful and painful memories sprung up like flowers in springtime. Alice completely froze, not daring to move away or closer to the sound.

"Alice," Amelia F. Jones called again.

Alice couldn't believe that Amelia would even _dare_ to call Alice out like this. She gulped, pulling in her true feelings, and called back to the girl, "W-What do you want?"

"Alice, look at me," Amelia pleaded. "I need to talk to you about something."

Alice considered running away at the very thought of looking at Amelia's face, but decided against it, knowing it wouldn't solve the problem. Slowly and most reluctantly, Alice turned her body until she was halfway facing Amelia.

Regret hit her like a ton of bricks. Standing there, looking like an older version of the girl that had flipped Alice's world upside down all those years ago, was Amelia Jones. Her curly hair was now cut to her chin, and held out of her face by two red infinity-shaped clips on either side. She was much taller than Alice now, but still wore her signature bomber jacket. The uniform she was wearing seemed to be a size too small, particularly in one area. Alice blushed, and diverted her eyes to the area right behind Amelia.

"Alice, let's be partners!" Amelia announced, breaking Alice's thoughts.

"I know," Alice said completely indifferently. "I received the application."

Amelia smiled widely. "Well, why haven't you responded yet, then?"

Alice sighed, a frown evident on her face. Her earlier thoughts had been misleading. Amelia hadn't changed _at all_. She was still happy-go-luck, and unable to read the atmosphere of those around her. Amelia was from the United States of America, and acted like such a typical American. She even was at the school for her talent in baseball. Alice couldn't figure out why in the _world_ Amelia hadn't gone to the school on her own continent. It was more sports-based there anyways.

"So?" Alice questioned, turning more towards the bubbly blonde. "Why do you want to work with me?" She figured she might as well listen to Amelia pitch the idea of them being partners for the competition. Not that she particularly wanted to, but Alice had free time at the moment.

Amelia grinned even wider, and clasped her hands into fists in mid-air. "Well… We could totally win this together!"

Alice waited a moment, before she realized that was all that Amelia had to say. She suddenly felt even more exasperated than before. Why had she been expecting some great speech? This was _Amelia Jones_ she was thinking of.

"Is that all you're going to say?" Alice inquired, all ready to head back to her dorm. "If so, forget about it."

"Wait, Alice!" Amelia cried out, taking a step towards her. "We really should work together! We could definitely win this thing! You're from England, where there are a lot of princesses, and I'm strong like a knight, so it'll be perfect! I'm totally serious!"

Alice turned to the side, and contemplated the proposal once more. Amelia was (oddly) rather popular. Alice looked at Amelia once more, and thought with a blush that Amelia might _possibly_ resemble a knight if you were into that sort of thing (which Alice wasn't). What choice did Alice have? It was this or forfeit.

Sighing, she mumbled, "…Fine, you git."

Amelia heard, and became super excited, letting out an "Awesome!" and hugging Alice profusely, to which Alice could only respond by blushing more, and letting out some low requests for the American to let her go.

However, once the two were walking back to the dorm for dinner, and Amelia was talking animatedly about how she was hoping the cafeteria was serving hamburgers, Alice wondered if she had made the right decision after all.

* * *

Thanks for reading these first two chapters! I promise more will come up soon concerning actual USUK at the other candidates. See ya!

Natsumi


	3. It's Fine Here Too

**Author's Notes:**

_Names in This Section:_

**England- **Alice Kirkland **America- **Amelia F. Jones

**Prussia- **Maria Beilschmidt **Spain- **Antonia Carriendo

**France- **Francine Bonnefoy **Romano- **Lovina Vargas

**Liechtenstein- **Lili Zwingli **Switzerland- **Vanessa Zwingli

**Italy- **Feliciana Vargas **Germany- **Louise Beilschmidt

**Austria- **Rosa Edelstein **Hungary- **Elizaveta Hédeváry

**Taiwan- **Sun Mei **Hong Kong- **Wang Fang

**Russia- **Anya Braginskaya **S. Korea- **Im Yong Il

**China- **Wang Yao **Lithuania- **Viktorija Lorinaitis

**Japan- **Kiku Honda** Poland- **Felicyta Łukasiewicz

**Latvia- **Regina Galante **Greece- **Hera Karpusi

**Turkey- **Sanem Adnan **Vietnam- **Trinh Nyugen

**Norway- **Margaret Ericson **Denmark- **Maren Køhler

**Sweden- **Berta Oxenstiema **Finland- **Tiina Väinämöinen

**Iceland- **Jóhanna Ericson **New Zealand- **Helen Kirkland

**Australia- **Jane Kirkland **Belarus- **Natalya Arloskaya

**Netherlands- **Larissa Dupont **Belgium- **Clara Dupont

**Cameroon- **Sierra Ahidjo **Monaco-** Grace Blum

**Seychelles- **Michelle Morphey **Ancient Rome- **Alessandra Roma

Thanks for the great reception with the first two chapters everyone! Jeez, I even got a REVIEW. Holy crap, with this annoying story, some kind soul saw the kindness to say something about it? However, all the favorites and whatnot made my day too every time I saw them pop up in my e-mail too. Thanks so much! You guys are as awesome as Maria.

**Disclaimer: **I am not Hidekazu Himaruya, and will never pretend to be. He is way smarter than me, anyways.

Also, if you have already read this chapter, don't worry about reading it again. I just realized that the breaks weren't working. So here's a fixed version of that.

* * *

**The Princess and Her Knight**

Chapter 2.5: They're Fine Over Here Too

"…I am just so awesome, they're probably all worried that someone has already taken me, and that's why no one has asked." It was the night after the candidates had been announced, and Maria Beilschmidt was ranting. She, along with Antonia and Francine, was spending the Friday night, as usual, in Antonia's room, a so-called "Meeting of the Bad Friends Trio". The topic on the three's lips was, of course, the assembly earlier that day. Being as Francine was the only one actually in an art program, the other two were so far not affiliated with the competition. While Antonia seemed to be fine, Maria was angry, to say the least, particularly because no one had asked her to be her Knight yet (though, really, this was unfounded, as it was only the night after it had been announced).

Francine chuckled to herself. This was so typical Maria it was simply funny. She smiled, and began fixing the three's dinners. She was in the cooking program, after all, and therefore should try out (experiment) her new recipes on her closest friends.

Maria took another swig of her hearty German beer, and continued. "Yeah, that's definitely the case. And what about you, Antonia?" the albino asked, turning the bottle towards the Spanish girl. "Why aren't you pissed that none of the Princesses have asked you?"

Antonia smiled, and looked up at the ceiling. "Lovi's going ask me to be her Knight, obviously! I'm saving myself for her."

"Yeah, in more ways that one," Maria scoffed, turning to the side. "I don't get your infatuation with that Italian prick anyways. Doesn't she beat you up every time she sees you?"

Francine turned away from her small kitchen area, and served the food to her two friends, with a glass of good wine, much classier than Maria's disgusting choice in beer. She raised her fork, saying, "You just don't understand _l'amour_, Maria. Sometimes people show their affections in different ways. Lovina can be a little… hard-headed, but that doesn't mean she doesn't like Antonia, _oui_?"

Maria laughed heartily. "Does that mean you and Alice are secretly screwing each other because everyone's back, then? You two seem to hate each other a lot."

Francine's good mood suddenly dropped to a stony face. Maria just had to go there, didn't see? Her relationship with Alice was very complicated, yes, but that didn't mean Francine completely hated the other girl. She sighed and put down her wine.

"Well, if it means that much to you, Maria, why don't you be my Knight?" Francine asked, hiding her mild sadness. She had to get a partner anyways, and she wouldn't hear the end of Maria's complaints if no one asked her, so why not?

Maria's face brightened, and she pumped her fist in the air. "Fucking awesome! Francine, I love you! We'll we be the awesomest team for this thing ever! Just try to beat us with your Italian wuss, Antonia!" Before Antonia could reply, Maria chugged the rest of her beer, and began spitting out "awesome" plans on how to take out the rest of the candidates.

Francine sighed, but still smiling nonetheless. Her friends were just so odd.

* * *

It was the Monday afternoon after the announcement, and Lili Zwingli had no idea what to do. While she had been happy that she was chosen as a candidate for the Princess competition, the small blonde was also worried beyond belief. She was the youngest one in the competition, being only a first year at the high school. Lili had also only transferred in to the high school, so she still didn't know Saint Mary's well, and only a small number of students there, who were mainly concentrated in the violin and art programs, like herself.

Lili sighed, and continued to pace around her room. It was a quiet and quaint room, with flowers abundant. However, the peaceful nature of the room did nothing to help Lili's beating heart. Oh, why had they chosen her anyways? She was clearly not suited for this role.

She sat down in her desk chair, and thought of the one person she wanted to ask, her adopted older sister in the biathlon program, Vanessa. The small girl's face heated up just thinking of her majestic older sister. When Lili had very small, she had been abandoned by her parents, and lived on the streets, an odd situation in today's time. She had been totally alone, until on a ugly rainy day, a slightly older stranger that had had chin-cut, light blonde hair with deep, beautiful green eyes and a large gun over her shoulder had found Lili and brought her to her house, where the girl's parents had agreed to adopt her.

For the first years, while they had been living in the same house, Vanessa went to a sports-centered school in Switzerland, while, because of her small and frail frame, Lili had gone to a small girl's school in Liechtenstein, as they lived at the border, and Liechtenstein was Lili's home country. Lili had taken a superb liking to her older sister, and tried to imitate her however possible, such as cutting her messy dirty blonde braids in favor of a short hair style, much like her sister's own. And, when Lili had been mistaken for a boy because of it, and Vanessa had bought her a ribbon, Lili still wore the side bow.

When Lili was in her fourth year of elementary school, Vanessa had been accepted to Saint Mary's for her talent in the biathlon. While Lili had been ecstatic for older sister on receiving such an honor, she had also been very sad and lonely when Vanessa was gone. She began to shut herself off from the world, and felt as if she was abandoned all over again.

However, during a visit to the school for a large competition for Vanessa three years later, Lili had opted to see a performance put on by the musical department. Every instrument had been beautiful, emitting a sound so incredible that Lili had almost been brought to tears. The one that truly had captivated the girl, however, had been a gorgeous solo performed by a senior on the violin. Lili had felt more whole than she had in months, and began violin lessons almost immediantly after returning home.

The violin filled Lili's gaping hole. It came naturally, as she felt the music, instead of trying too much. When her older sister returned to her home for the summer vacation, Vanessa seemed really pleased with Lili's violin playing, and encouraged her to apply to Saint Mary's for high school. After eighth grade, Lili had been accepted, and was finally going to school with her beloved older sister.

'_I would really like to ask her,_' Lili thought, sighing. '_But I don't want to bother _ältere Schwester. _She probably already has a lot to do._'

There was a loud knock on her door just then. Lili stood up and made her way over quickly, wondering whom it could possibly be. To her delight, it turned out to be Vanessa herself. Lili's day became that much better by the visit. Smiling, she asked, "What do you need, _ältere Schwester_?"

Vanessa swung her gun back up her shoulder, and asked Lili, "So, you're in the Princess competition, right?" Her face was a little red, and Lili wondered if her older sister was coming down a cold. "I-I was thinking that I'd be your Knight. I don't want you w-working with a pervert or anything."

Lili was so happy she could have cried right there on the spot. Her older sister was going to be her Knight. The competition was looking up already. She smiled at Vanessa, and hugged her tightly. "Thank you, _ältere Schwester_!"

* * *

Feliciana Vargas was crying. Crying so profusely one would think she was one of the middle school students, not a second year in the high school. She was in the cafeteria line, in the midst of buying dinner, when the cafeteria ladies had told the drawing student that they were not serving pasta that night. This was on the level of a crime to Feliciana, whose favorite food was pasta, and she ate it for basically every meal.

"Ve~ Are you sure?" she asked, pressing her face closer to the cafeteria workers.

The old woman smiled, and reminded Feliciana of the school's numerous other world-praised selections. However, Feliciana had already set her mind, and Feliciana was _scary_ when she set her mind. She turned to Louise and expressed her concerns.

Louise Beilschmidt was Feliciana's best friend, a tall German girl. They had met during middle school orientation, as they were partners, and had stuck together ever since. Louise was a complete foil to Feliciana. While Feliciana was into drawing, Louise was at Saint Mary's for rugby. Feliciana was small with curly dark red hair in a ponytail, with her eyes almost always squinting. Louise was tall and thin with short blonde hair and intimidating blue eyes. Feliciana was a little babyish and carefree, while Louise was a stickler for rules. However, the two were so incredibly close, there were many rumors around the school that they were secretly dating. Feliciana found the rumors stupid. She just loved Louise a whole lot! (Though, Louise did remind Feliciana a whole lot of someone the Italian had known in the past.)

Louise opened up her mouth, and said, "She'll just take some of that." The German girl pointed to an order of _spragel_. "I'll have the same, please, and two strawberry sorbets." The cafeteria worker nodded, and, a few moments later, they had their food.

Feliciana sniffed it, and asked of Louise, "Ve~ What is this? This smells nothing like pasta!"

Louise explained, "It a good dish we have a lot at home, with vegetables. You've been skipping out on these lately. And no, tomato sauce does not count."

Feliciana sighed. It didn't look promising, but she didn't want to let down Louise. She could always wash it down with the sorbet later. Cautiously, she took a bite, and was hit with a surprisingly good taste. "Louise, this is great! _Fantastico_! You always know the best!" She smiled widely at her best friend.

Louise coughed, and turned to the sighed, muttering something Feliciana could make out. However, Feliciana had also decided on something then. Grabbing Louise's closest hand with two of her own, Feliciana asked, "Louise, be my Knight."

Louise's face flushed, and she muttered, "…Okay, Feliciana."

Feliciana suddenly felt super excited. She and Louise would be an unbeatable team together. They would definitely win! And get lots of pasta!

"Ve~ Louise, I love you!" she declared, hugging the German girl. This was going to be great.

* * *

Rosa Edelstein was nervous. As one of the piano program's top performers, Rosa was used to performing in front of hundreds and thousands of people. However, nothing she had done with the piano had prepared her for what she was about to do. She had to asked Elizaveta Hédeváry to become her Knight for the Princess competition. While most people were probably finding the process very simple, it was more complicated for Rosa, as she and Elizaveta had lived together for a long period with. Elizaveta's parents and Rosa's parents had been very close, so when the latter went on away for work for a good-sized period during elementary school, Elizaveta and Rosa had come to live together.

It had been a beautiful time, and Rosa felt more inspired than ever to play the piano. None other than Feliciana Vargas, and another little German girl soon joined them. However, these times came to a rather abrupt end when the little German girl disappeared. Elizaveta's parents returned home soon afterwards, and likewise, Feliciana's grandmother came for her, reuniting Feliciana with her long lost twin. While Rosa had been happy the two had found peace in their families, she was also lonely. How excited she had been when she went to Saint Mary's for the first time, and found Elizaveta there too. Unfortunately, at the time, Elizaveta had become incredibly boyish and only spent time with the odd Prussian girl Rosa knew vaguely- Maria Beilschmidt. Feliciana had appeared a year later, but instead was mainly friends with the younger sister of Maria. Rosa had tried a tentative friendship with the Swiss girl Vanessa, but that had only ended up in flames.

Despite all of this, Rosa knew that Elizaveta was the one to be her Knight. She had great respect for the other girl's talent in fencing. Rosa also knew that she was better suited to Elizaveta than any other student she was a friend with.

Rosa had reserved the piano room for an hour after school that Wednesday, knowing she would probably have to express her nervousness before the she went off to ask the Hungarian girl. Rosa placed the formal letter requesting Elizaveta's help, and sat down to work at the instrument she was so used to.

She was finishing up the session, when she heard the sound. It was sound of two hands coming together and apart in a happy clap. A nostalgic voice then called out to Rosa, "That was beautiful, as usual, Rosa."

"Elizaveta," Rosa stated, turning towards the Hungarian girl in the doorway. Elizaveta stood there, leaning against the doorway. Her hair was long and had a new flower, this one brighter, as opposed to the old faded pink one she had worn all those years at the home. Rosa suppressed an urge to run and touch it, and questioned of the other girl, "How long have you been standing there?"

Elizaveta took a couple steps closer, and smiled sweetly at her. "Almost all of the set, actually," she explained, rubbing her head. "You were just so absorbed, I didn't want to disturb you." She stepped towards Rosa until she was practically standing over the Austrian girl. She appeared to be searching for something, until she picked up the letter, and said, "Hey, this has my name on it!"

Rosa flushed, and turned away. "Y-Yes, that's right. I-I wanted to ask you something."

Elizaveta lightly tapped Rosa's shoulder. "You didn't have to write a letter. We know each other better than that." Contrary to her words, Elizaveta torn the letter open hurriedly. Her deep green eyes skimming over the page quickly, she hugged Rosa. "Obviously I'll be your Knight, Rosa! I thought you'd never ask!"

Rosa coughed, and, with her face still the color of a rose, began to lightly play the piano, and Elizaveta went along with battle strategies. It was a complete glimpse into the old days.

* * *

It was the morning break between classes the Wednesday after the contest's announcement. Sun Mei was sitting in the wide courtyard, soaking in the sun before bell told her to go the next class, trying to catch some rest from the hectic few days Mei had had previously, largely due to her being a Princess candidate. She sat with her dark brown hair and back leaning against a small tree, on a round brick area, her brown eyes flittering open and closed, almost falling into the world of dreams. Just as she was about to slip into a peaceful nap, something, or rather, _someone_ was tug at her loose curl.

She opened her eyes once more, and found herself face to face with her old friend, Wang Fang. Fang proceeded to poke Mei on the forehead, and ask, "What are you doing out here?"

Mei yawned, and stood up. The Taiwanese girl was used to Fang appearing out of nowhere by now. Fang had always had a quiet, yet gentle demeanor, someone Mei could confine in easily. Upon meeting Fang through a family friend during one of the other girl's visits to Hong Kong from her home in the United Kingdom, they had become fast friends, and contacted one another through e-mail often. Mei had been completely ecstatic when Fang had decided to move to Asia full time. It was not very fun having one of your best friends living on the other side of the world. Though Mei was in Taiwan, and Fang was in Hong Kong, they saw each other often, and kept in touch much more easily.

Mei smiled lightly at Fang, pointing her finger in the air. "Picturing Yong Il and Anya taking turns groping Yao _Dàjiĕ_, of course."

Fang blinked, looking lost. Mei giggled, and patted him on the head. "I'm only kidding, Fang. I was just trying to get some rest. The last few days have been really crazy, with being a candidate, and all. You would not believe the amount of giggly sports girls who have asked me if they could be my Knights." She sighed, rubbing the back of her head. "They annoy me so much."

"But Mei," Fang started, with a tilt to her head. "You're a giggly girl too. Just in the arts."

In response, the painting girl jokingly punched Fang in the arm. After laughing a little more, she had an idea. "Hey, Fang, _you_ should be my Knight."

Fang blinked again, and her normally stone face melted into a smile. "I'd love to."

"Good."

Unfortunately, then the bell dinged for all to hurry to class, and their moment was over. But neither really regretted it.

* * *

It was lunchtime the Thursday after the announcement, and Viktorija Lorinaitis was getting food. She, unlike the majority of the school that did other things, such as homework, actually ate in the stately cafeteria during the ninety minutes the students had free. As usual, the short-cut brunette was alone in line, though the basketball player would be joining her good friends Amelia Jones and Kiku Honda for the sit-down part of the meal. Amelia usually bought food from the local McDonald's, while Kiku made her own lunch, as she preferred the boxed lunch she had grown up on to anything the cafeteria served.

However, the lunch was suddenly shattered of normality when Viktorija's sort-of blonde-haired, green-eyed, valley girl friend from Poland, Felicyta Łukasiewicz came gallivanting into the cafeteria, yelling, "Heyya, Tori!" Tori, being the nickname that Felicyta most commonly referred to Viktorija as.

Viktorija paled. Felicyta being in the cafeteria during the lunch period and not working on her "fabulous" dressing usually only meant one of two things- one, Felicyta had made a new fashion discovery, and was coming to convince the Lithuanian to wear for the next week; or, Felicyta had made yet another bet with the oppressive Russian girl, Anya. Viktorija prayed to whomever was listening that it was something than the others.

Luckily, Felicyta wasn't carrying anything fluffy and pink, so that eliminated the first one. Also, Anya was nowhere to be found, probably off harassing Viktorija's cousin Regina again, so it most likely wasn't the second option. What could Felicyta want, then?

Felicyta ran up to the brunette at full power (something that seemed impossible in the high heels she was wearing). As soon as the fashionista reached Viktorija, she exclaimed, "I got us totally signed up, Tori! And it was, like, so not an easy task _at all_. Those secretaries wear clothes from, like, the Middle Ages. So not cute! Seriously, they _totally_ need to take a tip from me. Or any self-respecting person out there. Like, seriously."

Viktorija blinked, and then sighed. "What are you talking about, Felicyta? Signed us up? For what? And slower this time, please."

Felicyta chuckled, throwing her short blonde locks back. "God, Tori, sometimes you can be _such_ a ditz. Seriously, 'for what'? Like you don't know or anything."

Viktorija shook her head to show that she really didn't understand at all. Felicyta let out a girly gasp and shook her head too. "Ohmygawd, Tori, I am, like, so sorry! I totes forgot to tell you! Duh! I knew I was forgetting something today." She explained pointedly, "You're my Knight. Like, duh."

The Lithuanian almost dropped her food in shock. "I don't want to be a Knight, Felicyta! I want to focus on basketball, and have a normal school life!" She turned, and began to walk towards the exit. "We have to go fix this now."

However, before Viktorija could leave the cafeteria, a weak pull on her sleeve made her stop. "Like, please, please, please work with me, Tori. I like, so, can't do this without you. Please. I can't deal with all these strangers asking me to work with them."

Viktorija sighed. Felicyta _was_ awful with strangers, so that made sense. Besides, what was the worst that could happen if she entered this contest? Even if they lost horribly, it might deter Felicyta from signing the Lithuanian up for anything again.

"Okay, let's do this, Felicyta," Viktorija said, turning back away from the door.

"Gawd, Tori, I love you! Thanks a ton, you fierce girl you!" Felicyta kissed Viktorija on the cheek and ran off; probably to work on the costumes that Viktorija had been dreading so earlier.

* * *

It was that afternoon, and Kiku was spending it as she usually did- in the art room, attempting to draw the school's various girls in anime form. Kiku was a small Japanese girl with chin-cut black hair and light brown eyes. She was in the drawing program, and while she was able to draw people normally, she preferred to draw them in a manga-style, because that was what Kiku had grown up learning from.

At that moment in time, Kiku was attempting to draw her good friend Hera Karpusi. Hera was a Grecian student in the sculpture program with wildly curly brown hair, green eyes, and a nice tan skin tone. It was proving to be a most difficult task, as Hera kept almost falling asleep. Luckily, she seemed to be thrown awake when Kiku's Turkish friend, Sanem Adnan, slammed the door open.

Sanem was a tall girl with dark brown hair, and an almost impossible to determine eye color due to Sanem's eternal wearing of a white mask over the upper area of her face. Even after being friends with the Turkish girl for a couple of years at that point, Kiku still hadn't seen under the mask. Though the mask didn't allude to it, Sanem was actually in the basketball program, instead of the acting like most thought.

Before Hera and Sanem could get into a fight (as they often did in one another's presence), Kiku let out a small, "Good day, Sanem-san." This worked, as it usually did, to calm the two down.

Sanem walked over and rested an arm over the easel. "Hey, Kiku? Whatcha doing for the contest thing?"

Kiku sighed, contemplating her choices. "I'm not sure. All of my cousins are in the arts, except for Trinh-chan, who doesn't like me very much. I am not positive of who should be my Knight for the competition." She looked to the left, a depressed shadow evident on her face. "I'm not even sure if I want to participate…"

"Aw, come on, Kiku!" Sanem enthused. "You'd do real well! And if it makes ya feel better, I'll work with ya!"

Hera slowly shook her head. "Why do you get to work with Kiku?" She grabbed Sanem lazily, as if attempting to instigate a fight. "I want to work with Kiku…"

"Well ya can't Hera!" Sanem yelled, throwing the Grecian off of her shirt. "For one, you're in the art program, y'know? Also, ya too sleepy to stay awake during ya basic afternoon classes! How can ya possibly help Kiku win?"

"We can do it, right, Kiku…?" Hera tried, turning to the smaller girl. She yawned largely, not even attempting to stifle it. Kiku felt worried for her friend's health. Why was Hera so sleepy anyways?

"Ah, that's all right, Hera-san," Kiku said. "I don't want to trouble you or anything. But t-thanks for your concern." She turned back to Sanem. "Were you serious with that offer, Sanem-san? If so, I would like to accept." The Japanese girl bowed with a perfectly straight back to signify the deal.

Sanem laughed heartily, and bopped Kiku lightly on her back, shocking the smaller girl completely. "Ya don't need ta be so formal with me, y'know? We are partners now!"

Kiku smiled, wondering if friendship was always this easy. "…Yes."

* * *

The Friday after the announcement was a rather annoying day for Margaret Ericson. Margaret was a quiet, reserved student from Norway. She had long white blonde hair, and dark purple eyes, eternally emitting a sense of annoyance. She always wore two small x-shaped clips on the left side of her head, and a sailor's hat on the top. In contrast to her personality, Margaret was a guitarist, and was apparently good enough to qualify to be a Princess at the school.

However, there was one majority contrast to Margaret. And her name was Maren Køhler. Maren was a loud, brash student from Denmark, who was in the swimming program. Maren had messy shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes, and an odd cap. From the first day they had met, Margaret had found the girl particularly annoying. For one, she seemed to rather enjoy teasing one of Margaret's more agreeable cousins, Berta, and Berta's sort-of girlfriend Tiina, often-saying things about taking Tiina away from Berta.

Once this faded out of importance, Maren decided that teasing Margaret would be even more fun. Maren regularly claimed Margaret for her own, to which Margaret had come to only respond by punching the Danish girl in the face. (It had only worsened with Margaret's sister, Jóhanna entering the school two years later.)

Therefore, when Maren had decided completely on her own that she needed to be Margaret partner, Margaret had found the situation most unbearable. Maren continually kept appearing in Margaret's classes, attempting to convince Margaret to work with her. It was made all the weirder by the fact they were in completely different programs.

Contrary to her constant denial of Maren's proposal, however, Margaret did not actually have an idea of who should be her Knight. She did relatively want to participate in the contest (mainly so students would stop asking her to join their bands). Unfortunately, while Jóhanna was in the sports program (handball specifically), she was in her last year of the middle school, and therefore was not eligible for Knighthood. Margaret would have asked Berta (who was in the horse-riding program), but Berta would most likely decline the offer, as it proposed spending less time with Tiina.

It was as if Margaret completely hated Maren. The Danish girl was interesting to say the least in her own right. The fact of the matter was that Maren simply annoyed Margaret like hell. Actually, Margaret suspected that she might have liked the girl much better if the incident with Tiina had never happened (though she would have maintained her stone face). Maren also had a small following, at least larger than Margaret's own, and their populations together would probably be a decent start on the votes. Therefore, it would seem as if the Norwegian girl had no option but Maren.

However, Margaret almost instantly regretted her decision. Once she told the Dane that she didn't care if she was her Knight, Maren proceeded to not only hug Margaret (much to Margaret's chagrin), but called up Berta and find out a way to harass her and Tiina some more with the news. This competition was definitely going to be incredibly odd, to say the least.

* * *

Helen Kirkland had decided on her Knight the day of the announcement, actually. However, it was Saturday after it, and the New Zealander still had not asked the other girl. It wasn't that Helen was afraid to ask the other one- in reality, Helen was very confident the other girl would agree to the proposition- but, rather, she hadn't seen much of the other girl.

Jane Kirkland was the other girl. Jane was Helen's Australian cousin, and, though she wasn't too keen on admitting it, her best friend. Helen wasn't too incredibly social (something she had probably picked up from her cousin Alice), and she had known Jane since before attending Saint Mary's, as their parents were very good friends. The field hockey team Jane was a part of for the school was doing incredibly well that year, so they were attending more and more competitions. Helen had thought she could ask Jane that afternoon, but field hockey practice had gone long, well into the afternoon. Of course, Helen was busy that evening with a film presentation for some of the middle school students in the film program, in order to "inspire" them, as Helen's teacher had so put it. It had been a relatively basic film, but Helen was pleased with it, and wanted to see the student's reactions, instead of simply giving the disc to the teacher, and going away.

However, Helen had gotten the shock of her life when the opening credits were rolling on the screen in the middle school's Final Film Presentation room. She had been sitting on a chair towards the middle on the wall, while the forty students sat on beanbag type desks. The New Zealander had been pleased to see the kids take in the opening pictures, and statements, that began to show what her film was all about. They all seemed to be enjoying it.

Helen had heard the door at the back of the classroom click open, and she turned, expecting it to be the teacher, who had gone out to obtain refreshments at the beginning of the movie. It had instead turned out to be none other than the object of Helen's musings, Jane. The other girl didn't make any eye contact with Helen, however, instead simply standing in the doorway, silently watching Helen's movie with complete concentration.

When the film ended, and the teacher called attention, having the students discuss the movie, Jane stared pointedly at Helen, to which Helen responded by walking over to the Australian girl.

Once they were both out in the hallway of the middle school, away from the film room, Jane let out an obviously suppressed, "G'day there, Helen!"

"Y-Yeah, hello, Jane…" Helen addressed, still wondering why in the world Jane was there at all. "Why are you here?"

"That was a real good movie, in there," Jane proclaimed, pointing back towards the room. "Once of the best of the year, yeah? And definitely-"

"Jane," Helen said, cutting the other off. "Why are you here?"

Jane's mood seemed to soften. She stuck her head behind her head, looking sheepish. "Well, we haven't seen much of each other in a while. This night was one I somehow got free, and I heard you were working on a new project, so…"

"Be my Knight," Helen demanded. She didn't think she could win with anyone else but Jane.

The Aussie's mood suddenly bounced back up, laughing carefree as she always did. "Of course. Let's completely _cream_ those others, eh?"

* * *

Wang Yao was a small Chinese girl who looked as if she was one of the younger classmen, despite being one of the oldest in the Princess competition. The sleeves on her various outfits regularly overran her hands. The large buns on the sides of Yao's head didn't help much either.

Therefore, it was a strange indeed when she talked to Anya Braginskaya. Anya was an incredibly tall Russian girl in the gymnastics program (one of the school's greatest heights), with long gray-blonde hair and purple eyes. However, the two seemed to talk an awful lot. This was to the displeasure of Yao, who was a little… frightened of the taller girl, to say the least. She had first introduced herself to Anya, as an attempt to make friends with those outside of her family. Anya had looked nice enough, with her eternal smile, and the way the Russian girl talked to most everyone in the school. Yao's hopes had been shattered, however, when she had began to talk with Anya, and found out the girl was a little frightening. Though Yao had attempted to distance herself from the other girl, it seemed as if they were stuck together.

This was the reasoning behind Yao's choosing Anya to be her Knight for the competition. She had long since accepted that they were going to be friends, like it or not, and it was probably good strategy for the contest. Anya would definitely inspire something in the hearts of the voters. Also, Yao really, _really_ wanted to become the Princess. Often in the school, she was treated like an underclassman, and wasn't even treated as an older sister in her own _family_, where, yes, she was the oldest. If she won, the Chinese girl would most certainly be treated with respect.

Getting it all straightened out had unfortunately taken until the second Sunday after the announcement. The majority problem was that it had taken major convincing of Anya's little sister, Natalya Arloskaya, to not go haywire over the pairing. Natalya was a tad possessive of her half-older sister, to say the least. Once she was convinced Anya's working with Yao wasn't a total betrayal, they were able to move forward.

However, looking up at the looming girl while signing on the sheet that declared their Princess and Knighthood, Yao suddenly felt an air of terror of what was coming ahead.

* * *

"No way," Larissa Dupont said stubbornly, shaking her head. Clara Dupont had been trying to convince her semi-older sister since the day after the announcement to be her Knight. Unfortunately, it looked as if that would never happen, as Larissa was continuously denying the invitation.

Larissa was a tall girl, with ear-length dirty blonde hair, and a red rose behind her ear at all times. She had rich green eyes, and a scar above her head that even after a lifetime of knowing one another, Clara was still unable to figure out where it had come from. She was relatively silent for a sports side member (though it may have had something to do with her being in the cycling program).

Clara sighed, as she had been expecting this. Larissa, for one, was _incredibly_ stubborn, never changing her mind on much anything. It was also hard creating a plan of attack for the girl, as she never showed much emotion, other than her standard "annoyed" expression.

The Belgian cooking student wondered if perhaps she should have gone with someone else. Clara would have asked her Spanish friend Antonia, except Antonia was probably going to be working (or at least attempting to) work with Lovina Vargas, the Italian girl she was so hung up on. '_Wait, Antonia…'_ Clara pondered, her wheels spinning quickly. '_That's it!_'

The blonde looked back up from her thoughts, and saw that Larissa was attempting to walk away once more. Hurriedly, she called out, "Wait, Larissa! Antonia's going to be a competitor too!"

Larissa froze in position. After a moment's hesitation, she spun on her heels, and walked back over to Clara. She grasped Clara's shoulders, and asked, "Are you sure?"

Clara nodded, smiling. "Well, Lovi's a Princess candidate too, right? Antonia will probably not give up on work with her, and Lovi probably won't be able to find anyone else, so…" Remembering something, she added, "Oh, and didn't you hear? That Sanem Adnan girl you don't like much either will be working with Kiku Honda in it."

Larissa backed off, letting go of Clara's shoulders, appearing to ponder all that she had been told. She walked back over into Clara's personal space, and said with a strength Clara didn't know Larissa could use when speaking, "I'll be your Knight."

Clara's lips grew into a devious smile. '_Just as planned…_'

* * *

Sierra Ahidjo had no idea what she was going to do for the Princess competition. For one, the Cameroonian girl wasn't even sure she wanted to participate. It relatively seemed like a waste of time. Sierra didn't want to do much other than practice her flute playing. Wasn't why she had come to Saint Mary's in the first place? However, she foresaw the peace she would get from some of the school's more eccentric students, and wanted in again.

That still didn't solve the problem, however, that Sierra didn't have a Knight, and it seemed as if you wouldn't be able to participate with out one. Sierra supposed she could ask one of the more-than-eager sports girls wanting to enter simply so they could be a part of the competition, but that felt wrong.

It was the Monday before the competition when Sierra had received the application. When she had taken it out of her mailbox, it had looked like just another energetic sports girl application. However, once she had returned to her dorm room and read it, it was actually from someone the Cameroonian relatively knew- one of her distant cousins, Muminah "Gupta" Hassan, of the squash program.

Unlike the previous applications, this one was oddly to the point, and didn't lollygag on unnecessary things. The flute player Gupta and her _were_ very similar, and she felt as if she probably could get along with Gupta without feeling annoyed. Sierra smiled (as much as she could) by the end of it, suddenly feeling much more energetic about the whole thing.

* * *

Grace Blum had no idea what she was going to do about the Princess competition. She suspected the teachers had chosen her to be a bit of a dark horse for the contest, as next to nobody knew her. She had entered Saint Mary's halfway through the freshman year of the high school, due to circumstances. The cello, Grace's instrument, had only been in the competition once before, and hadn't done well then. They _had_ mentioned something about diversity in their choices the current Princess competition, with their obvious lack of singers and actresses as candidates.

The student from Monaco had been pacing her dorm floor's common room for an hour the second Tuesday after the announcement. She was very pressed for time, knowing she had until the assembly Friday morning to find someone. Grace went over the students on the sports side once more. Antonia Carriendo was still trying to get with Lovina, Elizaveta had already been Knighted by Rosa Edelstein, and… '_Wait,_' Grace thought, temporarily stopping her pacing. '_Is there no one else?_'

"G-Grace," a small, tentative voice called from the far end of the room. Grace spun on her heel quickly, and found herself looking at an obviously African girl with dark brown hair, light brown eyes, and large red ribbons. '_Who is that? One of those unserious sports girls, I suppose,_' Grace pondered to herself. After a moment's thinking, she figured it out, letting out a small, "Oh!"

"Michelle!" the cello player declared, walking over to the other girl. Michelle Morphey was a family friend of Grace's cousin, Francine, from the small island nation of Seychelles, whom Grace had met a number of times. She had always relatively enjoyed the company of the girl, who was very good at "convincing" the French girl to not grope Grace, or any other innocent bystanders. Grace had been a little happy to find Michelle was attending Saint Mary's also, but, to the cello player's dismay, Michelle was instead a sports student, on the school's swimming team, so they had not seen much of one another.

Michelle was blushing, obviously nervous about something. She also appeared to be very troubled. Grace, being how she always was, inquired about it. "Michelle, is something wrong?"

The girl from Seychelles looked surprised, and waved her hands in front of her face in defense. "N-No, nothing's wrong!" she proclaimed, most unconvincingly. She sighed, and asked quickly of Grace, "Y-You don't have a partner, yet, right?"

Grace shook her head, wondering why Michelle would be inquiring on such a thing. She then realized the most wonderful thing. Michelle was someone she relatively knew and liked, and she was on the sports side! She would be perfect as Grace's partner.

"Would you be my Knight?" the cello player asked of Michelle.

Michelle looked jumpy, but then her face melted into a smile, and nodded enthusiastically. Maybe this competition wouldn't be so awful after all…

* * *

This competition was going to be awful, at least, in Lovina Vargas' opinion. It was the night before the deadline for finding a Knight, and Lovina hadn't pinned anyone down yet. Lying back on her bed, Lovina sighed, turning over. '_I don't even want to be in this stupid thing anyways…'_

_The afternoon after the announcement a week ago, Lovina had burst into her grandmother's office, demanding of the older woman an explanation for making Lovina a Princess candidate. Her grandmother had to know by then Lovina was not into those kinds of things at all. The Italian would had much rather preferred not being the competition, simply eating on the sidelines and continue to eat tomatoes whenever._

_However, upon the entrance to the office, the Headmistress had made her reasoning very clear. "Lovina," she had started, using an unusually serious voice, one that sent shivers down Lovina' spine. "Sit down."_

_Lovina had done as told, and inquired once more of her grandmother why she had to compete. She had even asked if it would simply better if she could drop out. _

The Headmistress had sighed. "You know as well as I do, Lovina, that your sister excels at Saint Mary's. Her works are very well received among the teachers. However," she had looked at Lovina pointedly. "This is not such the case with you, Lovina. Quite often, due to your extreme lack of work, teachers have asked that I take you out of the school. Thankfully, this has been avoided because I can do that." The Headmistress had smirked at herself for a moment at this. "The teachers, on the other hand, do not see this as so great. Therefore, I have pulled one last string for you."

_She had set her glasses upon the desk, and stared into Lovina's eyes. "Compete fully in the competition, or you will be out of Saint Mary's."_

Lovina shivered, going over the memory once more. Though most of the other students loved her, Lovina had never really liked her grandmother all that much. She had always been completely hung up on Feliciana, and it was already bad enough with everyone comparing Lovina to her _little sister_. She would rather have been compared to her parents. However, she could handle all that if that meant she didn't have to go home. Though she hated to admit it, at home she was really lonely, and had somehow come out with a group of friends at Saint Mary's. '_If I have to go back to the old days, I think I'll…_'

A loud rapture of a knock on Lovina's door was heard. She sat up, and walked over, peering through the peephole. She saw, much to her chagrin, Antonia Carriendo smiling widely at her.

She sighed, and opened the door ever so slightly, so Antonia would not be able to hug her, as she was so prone to do. "What do you want, Carriendo?"

Antonia leaned closer, as if attempting to molest Lovina. "Aw, Lovi, you can call me by my first name. I think we know one another better than that." She was smiling ever wider, as if that were possible.

The Italian girl opened the door wider, if only to be able to kick Antonia in the shin, something that was most likely going to be handy. "You still didn't answer my question, _Antonia_."

The Spanish girl laughed, throwing her head back. "I want to be your Knight, like I've been saying since a while ago, _sí_? We should start planning a speech for tomorrow!"

Lovina rolled her eyes, wondering at the ridiculousness of the Spanish girl. Why in the _world_ would Lovina even _consider_ having Antonia as her Knight? Antonia was annoying as _hell_. She almost never left Lovina alone, always attempting to hug her, or compare her face to a tomato.

However, it was at that moment Lovina remembered she didn't know what she was going to do for the Princess competition. She looked up at Antonia's smiling face, feeling nervous. Lovina really had no option but _Antonia_? God was cruel sometimes. Lovina supposed she would have to suck it up and spend the next few months working with the football player. Besides, it wouldn't be like she would have to _marry_ Antonia, right? Lovina laughed internally. Marrying Antonia? That would be _so_…

"Lovi? You still haven't answered my question," Antonia pointed out, interrupting the sculpture girl.

Lovina sucked up her pride, and declared, "Y-You can be my Knight. B-But just because I really need a partner, okay? Don't read too much into it or anything…"

But Antonia was already gone, reaching for Lovina, and then hugging- no _crushing_ her. She yelled something about her love, or something for Lovina, to which the Italian could only respond by sighing. She had a headache already.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** This one was a bit of an interlude, giving an introduction to the other candidates (and other students) in the series. Not all of the non-candidate names will be important, but all will probably show up once more. Sorry this took so long to write, and sorry it's so long. I really tried to keep it short, which is why some are only four paragraphs, but some just ran over, particularly with ones concerning characters I like. (I am so biased.)

I'll post the next chapter soon. I was going to include it here, but then it got _way_ too long, and I was like, "I should probably stop torturing whomever's reading this," to my cat. (Brutus is so cute~)

See you guys soon! Thanks for sticking with TPAHK (Tupac, lol) this far!

{Natsumi;;}


	4. What The F Stands For

**Author's Notes:**

_Names in this section-_

**England- **Alice Kirkland **America- **Amelia Jones

**Romano- **Lovina Vargas **Spain- **Antonia Carriendo

**A. Rome- **Alessandra Roma **Prussia- **Maria Beilschmidt

**France- **Francine Bonnefoy **Germany- **Louise Beilschmidt

**Italy- **Feliciana Vargas **Denmark- **Maren Køhler

**Norway- **Margaret Ericson **Lithuania- **Viktorija Lorinaitis

**Poland- **Felicyta Łukasiewicz **Turkey- **Sanem Adnan

**Japan- **Honda Kiku **Netherlands- **Larissa Dupont

**Belgium- **Clara Dupont **Australia- **Jane Kirkland

**New Zealand- **Helen Kirkland **Hong Kong- **Wang Fang

**Taiwan- **Sun Mei **Russia- **Anya Braginskaya

**China- **Wang Yao **Switzerland- **Vanessa Zwingli

**Liechtenstein- **Lili Zwingli **Germania- **Gertrude Pytheas

**Egypt- **Muminah "Gupta" Hassan **Cameroon- **Sierra Ahidjo

**Hungary- **Elizaveta Hédeváry **Austria- **Rosa Edelstein

**Seychelles- **Michelle Morphey **Monaco- **Grace Blum

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing. Scratch that, I actually own _less_ than nothing.

**

* * *

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The Princess and Her Knight

_Chapter 3: What The F Stands For_

It was a rather chilly morning at Saint Mary's. Often, even during the winter months, the school never got all that cold, due to it's position geographically. However, it appeared as if the school was thinking what all the students had finally realized- it was late September, and school was back in full swing.

Alice was rather pleased with the weather. Being from England, the land of eternal rain, Alice had been unused to Saint Mary's mild weather upon entering the school. She still wasn't completely used to it, and was always very happy to see a week of rain during weeks at home. Walking to the other building that morning, she could tell it was going to be a good day.

The person to her left seemed to not share this sentiment, however. Amelia was shivering as violently as possible, even under her thick jacket. Alice didn't understand how someone could not enjoy the beautiful weather. Besides, Amelia was most certainly fuller than Alice in some areas. Not Alice was thinking about that at all. She had definitely not thought like that _ever_.

She sighed, pushing up her glasses, and out her thoughts. "…What is _wrong_ with you, Amelia?"

Amelia shivered a few times more and looked to Alice from the collar of her jacket. "D-D-D-Don't you feel the c-c-c-cold at a-a-all, Ally?"

"For one, my name is _Alice, _not _Ally_," she declared, shaking her head. "Besides that, I grew up in England. We have great weather like this all the time." She turned back to Amelia, eyebrows pointed downwards. "Why are you unused to this, anyways? Did you not grow up in Virginia? I'm positive they have winter there as well."

The American seemed to stand fully up at this statement. "Yeah, that's right. I lived in Virginia for the majority of my life."

Alice raised an eyebrow. Why had Amelia suddenly changed position? She was acting rather odd. Seeing the building looming closer, Alice began to hasten her pace. Once she was considerably ahead of the baseball player, Alice turned, her ponytails flying, and said, "Hurry up, git. We'll be late at this rate."

Amelia smiled widely, and, as if the cold had magically disappeared from her, she began to ran towards Saint Mary's, dragging Alice behind her.

* * *

After homeroom had ended, and the students had been released to go to the auditorium, Alice headed quickly to the behind of the stage, where the candidates and their partners had been instructed to meet previous to the beginning of the assembly.

"You sure like walking fast, Ally," Amelia pointed out.

Alice nearly had a heart attack. Where in the world had Amelia come from? Her homeroom was a floor down and on the other side of the hallway, due to Amelia being in a grade below Alice. Especially due to the pace that Alice had been walking at, there was almost no way for Amelia to have gotten to the third floor that quickly. Wasn't that inconvenient for her anyways? They were all headed to the first floor.

The British inquired of Amelia, "Where did you come from? We're meeting on the _first_ floor, git."

Amelia titled her head to the side. "I'm here to pick you up obviously."

The writer flushed a vivid red. "W-W-What? I don't need you 'picking me up'. I can get to the auditorium perfectly fine by myself."

"That's not it," explained Amelia. "It's any hero or heroine's job to pick up their partner, obviously."

"You're not a _heroine_, git," Alice emphasized, exasperated. "You're a _Knight_."

Amelia puffed out her chest, looking insulted. "I'm both, I will have you know. And besides, knights are always heroes, right? Well, I'm like a female knight, so, I'm also a female hero. And, as a heroine, I gotta pick the Princess up."

"…Gotta is not a real word, idiot."

* * *

Upon entering the backstage of the auditorium, Alice and Amelia were pulled into a circle concerning of the other candidates, and who Alice supposed were the new Knights. Glancing around the circle, she saw that there was certainly an odd collection of people. She had been listening to the announcements of the pairings of course, but still hadn't matched the names until faces until that moment.

'_Hm, some of these pairings are definitely not going to work out,_' Alice thought smugly. '_I didn't think Lovina Vargas could even stand Antonia._'

Her inner smirking was interrupted when their Headmistress appeared on the scene. She was a lively as ever (something that relatively concerned the Brit), and greeted the thirty girls with a astounding, "Hello there, everyone!" Not noticing the relatively concerned looks of the students, the Headmistress continued with, "Okay, so it seems everyone's passed the first test. Well, sports program girls, while your partners have already been introduced to the school, only your names, not faces, had been announced. So today, I would like all of you to take the opportunity to step up to the mike and say whatever you like about yourself, not just name and sport. We'll go in the order in which the Princesses were announced."

'_Great,_' Alice thought sarcastically. "_I'm last _again_._"

"First up will be Maria Beilschmidt, Knight of Francine Bonnefoy," the Headmistress announced, before walking off to let the others behind stage it was time to start the assembly. "Good luck, girls."

"Fuckin' awesome!" Alice heard Maria cry out, before the British girl turned ever so slightly to Amelia.

She saw Amelia appeared to be lost in her thoughts most excitedly. Alice's eyes widened. This could not be good. If Amelia was thinking that deeply, she was most likely either going to do something incredibly over-the-top, or her mind was going to explode, and therefore, Alice would be thrown out of the competition due to lack of a partner. (It wasn't like she was actually worried about the other girl or anything. She simply needed a partner.)

"What are you doing, Amelia?" Alice asked, trying not to sound concerned.

Amelia turned her head down towards Alice's own. "What? You worried, or something?"

The British girl flushed, but before she could sputter out an excuse, the stagehands were directing the candidates to find their seats. The Princesses and their partners were lined up in order of who was going when, placing Alice and Amelia at the far left end of the semi-circle. Amelia waved to the crowd enthusiastically, to which Alice could only respond by sighing.

"Hello, everyone!" the Headmistress called out excitedly to the students sitting in the regular seats. "How are you doing today?" A cry rang out, though not as enthusiastic as when the girls thought they were going to be chosen for candidacy, only two weeks earlier. Alice felt relief wash over her again, as she remembered the stress of sitting through the other fourteen candidates, and knowing there was only one spot left, when her name had _finally_ been called to be a Princess.

The Headmistress continued. "Today, you will learn about each of the different Knights in the competition. They have each prepared a little something to say to you all." The Italian woman turned back slightly to the far right side of the semi-circle, and announced, "First up is Francine Bonnefoy's Knight, Maria Beilschmidt of the football program!"

Not wasting a moment, Maria practically _galloped_ to the microphone stand, basically ripping the mike away from the Headmistress. She yelled into it the loudest possible with an astounding, "Wazzup, Saint Mary's?"

A brief period of silence followed this, as the majority of the people in the rows appeared to be in a state of shock. Clearly, they had not been exposed to Maria previously. The British felt accomplished, as she knew all too well how strong the Prussian girl came on to those who didn't know her.

However, Maria appeared to be unfazed. "As you all probably know already, the awesome girl here is the awesome Maria Beilschmidt! I'm the awesomest member of the awesome football program here. I like the awesome country called Prussia, and awesome birds! So, you should all obviously vote for the awesome me, if you want to be awesome at all! Peace!" And, just like that, she had hopped off the stand, and went back to smirk next to Francine (who, for some reason, looked oddly happy).

The crowd appeared to have taken it surprisingly (and by this, Alice meant it was the shock of her life) well. Many of the female students had found it hilarious, and were whispering excitedly amongst themselves. The faculty also seemed to be conversing, saying how refreshing it was to have a student that was so self-confident. How Maria was "refreshing" in the least bit was a complete mystery to Alice.

Amelia's reaction stunned Alice vastly also. The American girl appeared to be muttering to herself about it, saying phrases like "was so amazing" or "Eight times. She used it eight times."

The Headmistress returned to the stand, looking like she had been one of the approving staff. She called order back to the room, and called out, "The next girl is Louise Beilschmidt, Knight of Feliciana Vargas, in the rugby program!"

Hushed conversations broke, wondering how Maria's sister would compare to her. Alice, however, knew they were all in for a surprise, as Louise was the complete opposite of her sister. While Maria was wild and narcissistic, Louise was more reserved, and much more grounded. Exemplifying this, the German girl walked carefully up to the stand.

"Ahem," she coughed, appearing to be testing out the microphone. Louise took out a small piece of paper, and said, "Good day. My name is Louise Beilschmidt. I am a second year in the high school rugby program. I shall be working with Feliciana for this year." She coughed at this point once more, and a dash of red became evident on her face. "A-Anyways, I just wanted to ask for support. Thank you."

Polite applause followed this, the loudest most certainly coming from Feliciana herself. Louise looked relatively embarrassed by this went she returned to her seat. The next speeches seemed to fly by faster and faster for Alice, who was concerned about what in _world_ Amelia was going to talk about. She was only able to catch glimpses of the other Knights. Antonia talked about Lovina being a beautiful little tomato (which resulted into a kick to Antonia's knee). Maren (the partner of Margaret) mainly discussed how much better she was than any of the other candidates. (_Her_ partner looked angry too.) Viktorija Lorinaitis, the Lithuanian basketball girl seemed pleasant enough, until Felicyta decided to catcall her, to which the brown-haired girl could only respond by looking incredibly depressed. The Turkish girl Sanem Adnan (partner of Alice's Japanese friend Kiku) promised all those who voted for her to get a glimpse under her mask. Larissa Dupont, Dutch Knight of her sister Clara didn't say much, other than to give her name and glare angrily at Antonia and Sanem. Jane Kirkland, one of Alice's distant cousins from Australia, and Helen's Knight, talked about Australia's various "beauties", including crocodiles. Fang Wang (who was working with Mei Sun) wasn't much of a talker either, though she did perform her signature arm gesture, pressing her third and fourth fingers down and crossing her arms. The night of Yao Wang, Anya Braginskaya's seemed to scare the entire population of Saint Mary's, even appearing to shock Amelia, who murmured something to the effect of "Damn that communist." Vanessa Zwingli (working with her little sister Lili) seemed passionate about the competition, and gave a decent speech. That was, until she decided to bring threaten the other girls with guns, causing Vice-Headmistress Pytheas to have to stop her. The Egyptian girl Muminah Hassan (Knight of Sierra Ahidjo) tried to sell some art students' works. Rosa Edelstein's Knight, Elizaveta seemed nice enough, until Maria tried to interrupt, and received a frying pan on her head.

Alice gulped. Before she had realized it, it had become the speech of Grace Blum's Knight, Michelle Morphey, the girl just before Amelia. Michelle was apparently attempting to shoot death glares at Alice, but Alice wasn't paying attention. She was too stressed about Amelia's speech. '_No!_' Alice demanded internally. "_I have to believe in Amelia! Believe… in her…_" The British girl found herself looking into her lap. '_But… What about the last time I believed in her? What if-?_"

Her thoughts were cut short when she felt a light tap on her shoulder, and looked up to find the American herself glancing down at her. Amelia smiled and poked Alice's cheek, announcing, "It's my turn, Ally." Before Alice was able to say anything, the other blonde was already at the microphone stand, and had opened her mouth.

"Hey y'all!" she cried happily, picking up the mike. "My name is Amelia F. Jones! I'm a pretty great athlete, not only being in my major of baseball, but also frequenting other super sports. Speaking of super," she started, bobbing her head to everyone in the crowd. "I think me and my partner- that's Ally over there!" Alice looked up, shocked, but embarrassingly waved to the crowd anyways. "Anyways, Ally and I are pretty super. She's all smart and writes pretty cool. And me, well, as I've said before, I'm super at sports. But more importantly," she stuck out her finger at this point for dramatic affect. "I'm a super_hero_. Heroine to be specific. I'll try to help everyone the amount I'm able to do, which is pretty much everything anyways. Ally will be the brains behind the operation, and will be _super_ at convincing everyone to help in the ideas out there. We'll definitely listen to y'all." Amelia's face brightened, and she declared, "My name is Amelia F. Jones! Wanna know what the F stands for! It stands for 'For You'! That's the kind of Princess and Knight we'll be! Root for us!" Taking a breath, she smiled lightly and made a peace sign. "See y'all around!"

The auditorium broke out in applause, and murmurs of how cool that blonde girl was broke out like wildfire. Alice was in even more shock than the period after Maria's speech. Amelia was good, no even _great_ at speeches. Alice had certainly felt inspired, which was a miracle in itself. She felt herself staring at the American girl the entirety of the other's trip from the stand to her seat beside Alice.

Once she had returned, Amelia turned to Alice and asked in a whisper that Alice thought not possible, "Hey, how was that?"

Alice flushed. She said stubbornly, "I-It was pretty decent, I guess, if you were someone that liked that type of thing."

Amelia began to laugh, confusing Alice completely. The other girl smiled lightly at Alice, and murmured, "Thanks."

Headmistress Roma had taken the attention of the audience once more, so Alice turned to indicate that she and Amelia should probably pay attention. The Headmistress asked of the crowd, "What do you all think of your new Knights?" Thunderous applause resounded off the walls. "Good, good."

Smiling widely, the Headmistress continued with, "So, guess what else is being announced today! That's right!" Headmistress Roma quickly pointed back at the ground. "Today I will reveal the first task of the competition!"

A general consensus of "Ooooh!" rang out throughout the room. Guesses were being made between all the students, and a good number of the clueless faculty too.

"The first task is… The Princess and the Knight will switch places!" Alice let out a gasp. _What_? "The Princess, who is normally so used to staying high in her tower and creating pieces of art, will go out onto the battlefield, and participate in a sport. The Knights, likewise, will take up the art of their Princesses. This event will last for five days, beginning next Monday!" The Headmistress waved. "See you all soon! Saint Mary's dismissed!"

Alice sat in shock in her seat. She was _awful_ at sports. She had been relatively weak since her childhood, and had often been teased by her older sisters due to her lack of sports talent. Glancing at her partner, the Brit remembered it wasn't a one-way problem either. While Amelia usually was decent in school subjects such as math and science, she had always been _terrible_ at English, and to say she couldn't write was the understatement of the year.

Twisting her ponytail over her finger, her eyes had become the largest they ever had. '_What in the world are we going to do?'_

_

* * *

_

Don't worry Ally! You'll probably work it out somehow. And wait; didn't another chapter end _just like this_? God, this author sometimes…

The above is the readers' thoughts.

Well, I'm just happy you all read anyways. See everyone next week. I promise each chapter will stop being so filler-y, because every chapter from her out is a task.

See you all soon!

{Natsumi;;}


	5. 5 Day Switch

**Author's Notes**

_Names in this section:_

**England- **Alice Kirkland **America- **Amelia Jones

**Estonia- **Etty von Bock **Italy- **Feliciana Vargas

**Germany- **Louise Beilschmidt **Turkey-** Sanem Adnan

**Japan- **Honda Kiku **China- **Wang Yao

**Russia- **Anya Braginskaya **Cuba- **Carmen Castro

**Canada- **Madeline Williams **Poland- **Felicyta Łukasiewicz

**Lithuania- **Viktorija Lorinaitis **Vietnam- **Nyugen Trinh

**Belarus- **Natalya Arloskaya **France-** Francine Bonnefoy

**Prussia- **Maria Beilschmidt **Romano- **Lovina Vargas

**Netherlands- **Larissa Dupont **Belgium- **Clara Dupont

**Switzerland- **Vanessa Zwingli **Liechtenstein- **Lili Zwingli

**Latvia- **Regina Galante **Iceland- **Jóhanna Ericson

**Hong Kong- **Wang Fang **Seychelles- **Michelle Morphey

**Monaco- **Grace Blum **New Zealand- **Helen Kirkland

**Australia- **Jane Kirkland **S. Korea- **Im Yong Il

**Taiwan- **Sun Mei

_Disclaimer:_ Nope, I don't own _anything_. Thanks for asking though.

* * *

**The Princess and Her Knight**

_Chapter 5: 5-Day Swap_

It was a Monday morning, and a rather warm one at that. Needless, to say, Alice Kirkland was not pleased. However, it probably had little to do with the weather at that point. No, the main drive of her anger was the fact that that very day was the start of the "5-Day Switch"- the first task in the Princess competition, which entitled each candidate to switch talents with her partner. This meant all the Knights would become art students, and the Princesses would get much more exercise than they were used to. At the end of the week, the scores given from tests and the likes, and their new teachers' reports would be compiled, and the placements of the pairs would be announced. It wouldn't actually affect the final choosing of the Princess, but it was a certainly great opportunity to show you in a good light throughout the school.

The twin-tailed Brit was not looking forward to it for a majority of reasons, the majority of which had to do with her lack of athletic ability. Alice had always been slow as a child, often being the base in games of tag with her neighborhood friends; they didn't see it as fair to have her be a player herself.

Likewise, Amelia didn't seem so enthusiastic either. "Why the heck do we have to do this? I _hate_ English class." The American girl, for some reason, had decided that morning to sit with Alice. Alice spent most of her breakfasts alone, usually reading Shakespeare, or some other inspiring work, preferring the calm those quiet moments brought. However, it didn't look as though she was going to be able to obtain those this morning.

"Writing is _no_ fun. If anything, math is _way_ better," Amelia complained, sucking on the straw of her smoothie.

Alice sighed, agreeing with Amelia. After the announcement, the two had attempted to help one another to prepare for the week ahead. Once back from dinner, Alice had immediantly started on teaching Amelia how to compose fiction. It had not been an easy task. Amelia's stories were often short and lazy, holding the same plotline to each- a hero is born, defeats the bad guys, and lives forever. The experience had left Alice completely _drained_ of all energy whatsoever. This had been most unfortunate when the very next morning, Amelia had attempted to coach Alice in baseball. That had ended in Alice becoming so delirious she thought Amelia threw the ball three minutes after she actually had.

As they strolled into school, breakfast long since finished, the two pulled out the schedules that had been given to them the previous Friday, and gave descriptions of where their first classes where to one another. Schedules usually worked in the high school program by having five regular classes before lunch, which usually included your regular English (the school's official language), social studies, science, math, and foreign language classes (which included a selection of French, Spanish, German, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, Russian, Portuguese, Dutch, Italian, Greek, Polish, Korean, Vietnamese, Javanese, and Bengali). After lunch, the student would go to classes specifically focused on her major. Sports students would go to their respective areas and practice feverishly, while the ones in the arts would take specific courses designed to promote their talents, and then get free time to finish a masterpiece by them by the end of the quarter. Alice's own schedule before lunch was French 4, English 2nd-High School, Pre-Calculus, European History 2, and then Chemistry.

Immediantly after learning of where her new first class was, Amelia dashed off with an unusual amount of excitement Alice would have never thought possible out of such a hater of writing. Alice herself was very depressed, almost certain the day would go sour within moments.

She walked solemnly to the first classroom- Advanced Physics. It was located on the fifth floor of the general education classes, where the sciences classes generally were. It was very far down the hallway from the staircase in a tiny classroom Alice could tell was usually abandoned for anything other than Advanced Physics.

Alice stepped in, and found, despite the fact the late bell was seconds away from ringing, the classroom was largely empty. It appeared as if the only other students were taking the class were Etty von Bock, the Estonian girl in computer graphics; Feliciana Vargas, taking the place of Louise; Sanem Adnan for Kiku; Yao Wang for Anya; Carmen Castro, the Cuban baseball player, who, at first, Alice thought was talking to herself, until Alice spotted the last member of the class; Madeline Williams, Amelia's cousin in the hockey program. Most class had at least eighteen people taking them, and Alice was sure this was the only time Advanced Physics was scheduled. She took her seat in a desk that clearly belonged to Amelia, as it had several drawings of spaceships on the upper left corner. It was a creaky old chair towards the front, right beside where Kiku must have normally sat.

The teacher walked into the classroom just as the bell was ringing. She was a warm looking, round African woman. She wrote her name on the small, old chalkboard, and turned to the class. "It appears as though we have many new students here. Well, congratulations to all of you for being selected for the competition. I hope you won't struggle too much in this class. Let's get started then."

She turned back to board, and began to write the opening problems of the day. Alice mused, '_Well, the teacher seems nice enough. I'm not sure about the class though… Chemistry is enough of a struggle in itself, and I've never taken Physics previously. I suppose it can't be _that _difficult if that git can pass it._'

Alice rather regretted those words an hour later. As the bell rang to dismiss the students to their next classes, the writer had to literally take a breather and stop everything she was doing before heading out. Advanced Physics, no Physics in general, was completely _impossible_. Alice had understood about two words per five minutes of what the teacher had been saying, and had somehow managed to draw every single graph wrong. How in the world Amelia, who was also a year younger than her, would possibly be able to understand it at all, and likewise with everyone else taking the class.

* * *

Her second block that day was Pre-Calculus, which, thankfully, was the same math Alice was in at the moment. This was a larger class, with around fifteen students, and was not the only block it was offered, as Alice had it the third period of the day. The classroom itself was on the second floor of the general education building, also typical for math. It was a larger sized classroom, with the average Smart Board being used, and updated chairs and desks.

The blonde's seat, as told to her by that class's teacher, was right in the middle. Sitting around Alice were Felicyta Łukasiewicz (taking the place of Viktorija) to Alice's right; Trinh Nyugen, the Vietnamese girl in general martial arts behind her; Natalya Arloskaya, Anya's Belarusian half-sister in ballet to the Brit's left; and in front was, to Alice's chagrin, was Francine. To irk her even more, beside Francine was Maria, who was attempting to hit on the girl sitting beside _her_, Lovina Vargas. Alice felt awful for the teacher, as she had to deal with the Idiot Trio all in one class, all seated beside one another.

This class was much easier than the previous, as Alice was already taking it, and therefore already knew the material. Unfortunately, the Brit had forgotten that they were having a quiz that day in the class, and not spent any time studying in preparation. Alice also was unable to concentrate in that Maria kept talking to Francine, and asking the French girl for answers. Honestly, how that girl was _not_ expelled yet was beyond Alice.

The oh-so loyal bell dinged once more, and after scribbling down the homework, Alice headed to the third block- Spanish 3. This was yet another class Alice was not looking forward too, in that, for her foreign language, she had taken French (mainly so she would know when a certain French girl was making inappropriate comments about her). Alice suspected she knew nothing in the new language other than yes and no.

The classroom was on the fourth floor, in a fairly large classroom. The class had about twenty people in- a substantial amount. Settling into this class, Alice found the teacher _already_ speaking rapid Spanish, probably to immerse the students in the language. Alice understood nothing of what was going on, and had to find her seat by whispering to another student. This time Alice towards the front on the right. She found herself right behind Antonia, who appeared to be napping. '_Why in the _world _is Lovina taking this class?_' Alice mused. To the left of Lovina's seat was Maria, _again_, who was talking elaborately to the sleeping Antonia about her awesome. To Antonia's right was Larissa Dupont (taking the usual spot of Clara), looking angry (probably due to a lack of marijuana in her life).

Once Antonia managed to pull herself together, she and Larissa immediantly started an argument, which was the highlight of Spanish. The rest passed by slowly, and Alice felt as if she was losing information instead of gaining. At the point of tears when the bell rung, Alice hurried to World Geography.

The fact that Amelia was taking this class worried Alice a tad. It was usually a course covered by graduating middle school to her knowledge. The Brit suspected her partner's school had all pushed "American History" courses and the like. Luckily, the course did have a block in the high school section on the third floor, but this too was a few-numbered class, with no one Alice recognized. This period went by slowly, also, but instead in that it was completely dull.

The last class of the day was English 1st: High School. The English classes were organized on the first floor by grade level. Fluency wasn't a real concern, as every student had to pass an English Capability test before being accepted to the school. It wasn't that they weren't allowed to speak their native languages; it was just that if the school did not put in place an official language, the classrooms would become too incredibly hectic.

As Alice had taken the class the year before, she wasn't too worried about it at all. Walking into the class, the Brit found a variety of faces she recognized. Towards the front were Vanessa Zwingli, taking the place of Lili and not trying to be discreet about her glaring at everyone; and Regina Galante, the timid hockey player from Latvia, who was shaking violently, like usual. Others she spotted among the crowd were Carmen, with an almost-invisible Madeline again; Jóhanna Ericson, the near-silent handball player from Iceland; Fang Wang; Natalya once more; and Michelle Morphey taking the usual seat of Grace Blum. Around Alice's own seat where Helen and Jane Kirkland, who were two more of Alice's distant cousins; Yong Il Im; Grace Blum taking the usual seat of Michelle; and Mei Sun, taking the usual seat of Fang Wang. Somehow, other than Yong Il, Amelia had managed to get a seat right near many of Alice's cousins. '_Is she trying to convince them all to turn against me?_' Alice considered.

Alice had already taken the class, and was very proficient in English, so it went by slowly also. She sped out the moment the bell dinged, and walked straight to the library. While it _was_ lunchtime, almost nobody actually ate in the cafeteria, and Alice had grabbed an extra muffin that morning at breakfast that would sustain her. Also, she was most certainly going to have to study for Physics, or she certainly wouldn't last the week in the difficult class.

* * *

It was after the lunch period, and Alice was standing outside the locker room. Most of the other sports students were milling around her, and talking excitedly about new moves in their respective sports or whatnot. Alice, on the other hand, was not excited much at all. She absolutely _despised_ running, which she was sure was going to come immediantly after exiting the changing area.

She supposed it was something that had to happen, like ripping off a bandage, at the very least, for the Princess competition. Alice carefully stepped into the room. Upon entering, she saw it was much more spacious than she had imagined. The lockers were oddly large, and painted gold. She looked around, and, after finding the J's, Alice walked over to Amelia's locker. Upon opening it, she saw the word "Heroine" at least twenty times, and the American flag upon almost every surface.

Alice suddenly realized she had no idea what she was going to wear. Amelia's baseball clothes would be too large, and likewise with the shoes. Concerned, she walked over to a large pile of shirts and shorts, which she supposed was the extra clothes. They didn't smell _that_ awful, probably due to Saint Mary's superb janitorial staff, but it was still odd, wearing clothes another had worn. She slipped them one quickly, and stuffed extra socks into Amelia's baseball shoes (what were they called again?). Slipping off her glasses, Alice was ready to go (all too soon).

The British girl walked slowly out of the locker room out to the area behind the school where they kept the sports' fields. The baseball practice field wasn't too hard to find, but once Alice showed up, she saw the girls running laps (of course). Sighing, she began to push her body around the park also. She soon became exhausted, and tried to take a quick breather, to only be run over by the rest of the girls, and harked on by the coach.

Already worn out, the coach, a tall, brash man, detecting Alice's lack of skills, put her in the right outfield (which took her a while to find). The coach put the back-up pitcher, Carmen, at the mound (as Amelia was apparently the regular pitcher), and instructed some of the 1st and 2nd years in the high school section to practice catching.

Out field catching proved to be most difficult for the blonde Brit. Due to her horrible vision when not wearing glasses, Alice was unable to catch the majority of high balls the girls hit to her area, which was a large number. They were all regular home-runners.

Alice was going dizzy from exhaustion when it happened. The older girls had started to go in to hit, though Alice was still on the field. One of the students hit the baseball high- and higher and higher, it kept going. Alice noticed it was coming her direction, due to the insistent calls of her peers. For some reason, the hitter had decided to place the ball right where the sun also was. Alice, with her lackluster baseball skills and almost-blindness, didn't stand a chance.

The last thing she saw was a mass of white, and then everything went black.

* * *

Alice's problems with Physics are based on my own. For some reason, I keep getting C's on the tests. :/ (Though, I have a high B in the class.)

Sorry about not being able to upload last week. I was incredibly busy with our school's play, which was on Friday and Saturday, and had rehearsal the majority of the week before. Hopefully I can get a lot of writing done this weekend, though, over Thanksgiving. (Though, apparently Visual Arts is going to have a TON of work.)

Thank you for reading, as usual!

{Natsumi;;}


	6. Nighttime Conversations and You

**Author's Notes:**

_Names Used in this Section:_

**England- **Alice Kirkland **America- **Amelia Jones

**France- **Francine Bonnefoy

This chapter is basically to make up for the lack of Amelia/Alice in the story. But, there's also barely any mention of the Princess competition.

* * *

**The Princess and Her Knight 6**

_Nighttime Conversations and You_

Alice knew what she had to do. She had been in love with the other for so long, it was nearly bursting out of her. However, Alice's personality only caused her to push the other further and further away. Today, though, Alice had decided to tell the one she liked so much her feelings, no matter the cause.

_And, really, what did she have to lose? The other was just so _dense_, that person would not understand anyways. Even if that person did, Alice was probably going to have to leave soon anyways. Her parents had _not_ been pleased with her decision to dash off to the United States spontaneously, to say the least. (Not that Alice particularly cared, she just didn't want them to cut off her inheritance in total.) The other person was so open to anything, anyways; the other would most certainly not become immediantly disgusted with the Brit. But, most of all, Alice had grown sick of the eternal back-and-forth pull of her heart. She was going to tell the other what she needed no matter _what_._

_Stepping lightly around the house that had grown so familiar to her in the past few months, Alice began to look for that other person. It was an early Saturday morning, and both Alice's host mother and host half-sister were off doing miscellaneous chores, leaving only Alice and the one of her affections left._

_At least, this is what she had thought._

_Passing by the spacious entertainment room, she suddenly heard voices. The other person was talking to someone else. Alice racked her brain for which it could be, but was unable to come up with anyone. Silently, she tiptoed to the outside of the door._

"_I mean, you're the one who said it's only us anyways," the unfamiliar voice said, in a relatively demanding tone. "Why not?"_

"'_Cause it's _not_ just us," the other one emphasized, pursing her lips. "Alice, the British girl I was telling you about, is here too."_

"_Yeah, and have we seen her all morning?" the unfamiliar one inquired. "Like you said, she's probably sleeping or something."_

"_Probably…" the other one said without heart in the voice. "I'm just don't want to bother her, y'know?"_

'Oh brilliant,_' Alice thought. '_They haven't realized I'm awake yet._'_

"_Whatever," the unfamiliar voice sighed. "I don't care if you don't want to or anything. Do you know if there's a game on or something?"_

_"Oh, fine," the other one gave in, standing up. She moved over to the unfamiliar one, and made a sound like she was kissing the unfamiliar one. However, Alice could only hear the sound of her own heart breaking._

"Alice!"

Alice Kirkland was thrown awake with a start. Snapping out of her dreams, she glanced around worriedly, and found herself in Saint Mary's nurse's office, nowhere near the United States _at all_. It looked to be around dinnertime, as the sun was low in the sky; the orange of the sunset flooding the normally white room. The blonde let out a sigh of relief. She turned her head once more, slipping on her glasses, and found her nose practically touching that of the Knight she was working with, Amelia F. Jones.

"A-Amelia!" Alice exclaimed, practically fleeing to the other side of the sterilized bed she was on. "W-W-What-?"

"Alice." Amelia stated totally seriously, silencing the writer. "Do you feel all right?"

Alice, for the first time since waking, pondered why she was in the nurse's office anyways. Feeling a sharp pain run through her head, she rubbed it absentmindedly. "Yes, I suppose."

Amelia let out what looked like a giant sigh of relief, facing her lap in the plastic chair by Alice's bed. "That's good, that's good. Do you remember what happened?"

Alice went through her memories of the day. That's right- she had been playing baseball in the outfield, due to the Princess competition's "5-Day Switch". Grimly, she recalled her incredible slowness and her extreme lack of skills. Suddenly, she remembered how she had passed out in the first place. A fly ball had been hit right towards the writer. Unfortunately, the sun had been all too close, and it had proceeded to hit Alice in the dead center of her forehead.

"Yes," she concluded. Unfortunately, this left one thing unanswered. "But, how did I get here?"

Amelia smiled. "Me, being the heroine I am, was watching over you in your trying of baseball-"

"You mean you were skipping classes?" Alice interrupted incredulously. "We'll never win now…"

"Nah, I wasn't _skipping_," Amelia emphasized, shaking her blonde bob back and forth. "I just took a sort-of long bathroom break during The History of Play-Writing. Seriously, though, how the _hell_ do you manage getting through that class? It's, like, torture. I never have heard that much about _Romeo and Juliet_ in my entire life."

"Shakespeare's a genius, you git!" Alice exclaimed, suddenly infuriated. Remembering her lost time, she inched Amelia back onto topic. "Anyways, how did I get here?"

"Oh, right, that," Amelia remembered, her eyebrows rising. "So, as I was saying, I was _just_ checking up on you, when, all of a sudden, the ball went way too high, and, from watching you running the bases-"

"You were there that bloody long?" the writer inquired, interrupting the story once more.

Amelia continued, pretending not to have heard Alice. "Anyways, I just knew you were going to be in a heap of trouble, especially when I saw you looking up and your eyes growing the size of the ball itself. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to you in time to save you from it totally, but I did catch you while you were falling. Then, I picked you up, and carried you here. You're way lighter than I expected, Ally."

Alice's face turned a deep rose red. Amelia had _carried _her all the way to the nurse's office. Though Amelia had said the Brit was light, she was still worried about how long the trip had been. How long had she been in Amelia's arms?

"Not that I'm thinking about that or anything!" Alice declared loudly, her face redder than before.

"Huh?" Amelia asked, obviously confused at the sudden outburst. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" She put her hand on Alice's forehead, her own face getting closer. "Your face is, like, _really_ red, and you're spouting nonsense."

Stubbornly, Alice spun around, forcing Amelia's hand off of her head. "I-I-I'm just fine, git! A-A-And anyways, w-what were you thinking, idiot, carrying me around like that? What if people get the wrong idea?"

The American's head titled to the left. "Wrong idea? Like what?"

'_I forgot she couldn't tell anything!_' Alice thought worriedly. "N-Nothing. It's fine. I should be fine going back to the dorms for dinner. You can head on if you would like."

The blonde curls were flipping yet again. "Like heck I'd do that! I'm a heroine, not someone who would ditch others like that. Unless they were the super villains, obviously. Or communists."

Alice's face flushed once more. Suddenly too tired to fight (and secretly sort of happy), she gave into Amelia's demands. "F-Fine you can walk back with if you really want. B-But only because you want to. I don't particularly care."

The so-called heroine smiled her widest. "Awesome!"

* * *

Luckily for Alice, on the way returning to the dorm building, Amelia was taking up the majority of the conversation. She was telling Alice about even though Play-Writing had most certainly not been her favorite, Brainstorming had been mildly interesting, and the American had come up with quite a few ideas. Alice, though relatively happy that her Knight seemed to be working for the title finally, wasn't completely listening. She was too busy contemplating her life.

'_So, Amelia carried me all the way to the nurse's office…_' she thought solemnly. '_I… sort of wish I had been awake for that._' Realizing what she had just thought, Alice blushed some more, and shook her head, throwing such things to the wind. '_No, no, I just would have liked to tell her off for doing it, that's all. There's nothing more to it than that. _At all_._'

The British writer stole a glance at her partner's cheerful face. Amelia appeared to realize this, and turned and looked in Alice's eyes. Suddenly, the gaze becoming more serious, and the silence ever growing, they both stopped walking. Amelia gulped, her face totally red, and mumbled, "Um, well, Ally, I-"

'_Oh, damn,_' Alice thought, as her vision faded as if her glasses had been removed. Her head throbbed as if professional drummers were using her as a cymbal. Alice's footing loosened, and she suddenly found herself lying on the arm of Amelia. She had been caught in midair. Embarrassed, Alice stood up and tried to move further along the path, but instead was stopped by a strong hand.

"A-Amelia! Let me go!" Alice demanded, trying to shrug the hand off her shoulders that felt smaller and smaller every second. Her face was red once more.

"No," the baseball girl said, her tone, for once, totally serious. "I can't let you go off alone. What if you fell somewhere or something? You could end up with an even worse injury, Alice. And I doubt I'd be able to forgive myself if that happened." She seemed to realize what was going on too. Her face became the color of her hair clips, and she stammered, "B-Because I'm the heroine, of course." Her bob flying she bent over and pointed to her back. "Anyways, let me carry you back to the dorms."

Alice shook her head. "I absolutely refuse! I'm totally fine!" She walked a few more steps to prove her statement to Amelia. "See?"

"No, you're obviously _not_," Amelia countered. "Just get on my back. It's only for, like, a minute anyways."

'_That is still sixty seconds I would rather not deal with!_' Alice mentally screamed. However, her head was absolutely _throbbing, _and she was most likely would prove to be able to return to the dormitory by Alice's own efforts. Thus, outwardly she said, "F-Fine. I won't hop on your backside." Seeing Amelia ready to object, Alice continued. "Y-You can link arms with me o-or something. But just because you're being really persistent, okay? Not because I particularly want to or anything."

Amelia's mouth turned into a cat-like smile, obviously happy at winning the argument. She quickly slipped her arm through Alice's own, and began to continue with her speech. Alice returned to contemplating. The Brit wondered, '_I wonder what Amelia was planning on saying… No, it was probably something idiotic._'

So, the two made their way back to the dorms, one not saying anything, and the other saying too much.

* * *

Later that night, Alice had just taken a shower, and proceeded to lie down on her bed. She went over the events of the day once more in her mind. After she and Amelia had made her way into the school, Alice demanded they stop linking arms, and the American had agreed, but only in the case that they eat together during dinner, and she could walk Alice to her room afterwards. Reluctantly, Alice had agreed.

As the writer had only been used to Amelia seating with her for breakfast, so she was been expecting to not enjoy it too much. She had been surprised to find that Amelia, though noisy and crude while eating, wasn't _too_ bad, she supposed. Amelia asked numerous questions about Alice's writings, and appeared to actually care what Alice was telling her. It was nice to be able to tell someone about Alice's stories, as she had few friends, none of which were in the writing program.

Alice sighed, and rolled over on her bed, snapping back into the present. She found herself blushing, and mentally kicked herself. Why in the _world_ would she be blushing? Amelia was nothing to blush over. Alice was convinced of it. She certainly did _not_ like the other. She was annoying, stupid, blunt, much too strong, and brave…

Besides, (though she may have suspected herself as such) Alice's parents would absolutely _murder_ the writer if they found out she was into other girls. They pushed the idea that all of Alice and her older sisters should have an abundance of children to help the Kirkland family gain further influence. She had been trying so hard to win back their approval for _three years_ now. It was too early to give in, just because of one person. (A person she most certainly felt nothing towards, thank you very much.)

Picturing Amelia in her head for a moment, she blushed, but quickly pushed away the thought. '_Besides,_' Alice thought solemnly. '_I know Amelia is not weird, like me. She probably like boys a whole lot._'

A sharp rap on her room's door forced her up on her bed. Expecting it to be Amelia wanting to check on Alice's well being once more, the writer opened it, saying, "I'm perfectly all right, you git." However, instead, she found herself face-to-face with her old rival, Francine Bonnefoy dressed in more modest sleepwear than Alice thought was possible for her.

"_Bonjour, _Alice," the French girl greeted, smirking. "Mind if I come in?"

* * *

Thanks for reading thus far! Sorry about slow updates. Christmas is hectic. If I don't update every week, I promise at least every other.

See you next time!

{Natsumi;;}


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